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A comparison of the internal consistency, reliability and convergent validity of two response formats for the Beck hopelessness scale Kotalis, Lee
Abstract
The Beck Hopelessness Scale (BHS) is a 20-item true/false questionnaire designed to measure a respondent's negative expectancies about the future. The construct of hopelessness has been found to correlate strongly with suicidal and parasuicidal behavior, and the BHS i s frequently used in the assessment of suicide risk. The primary purpose of the current study was to explore the impact on the internal consistency reliability and convergent validity of the BHS, when the scale's item response format was altered from its published true/false format to a system of scoring each item on a 6-point Likert scale. The sample investigated was drawn from an adult non-clinical population. Results indicated that there was no significant difference in the magnitude of the internal consistency reliability coefficients obtained with each of the two response formats tested. Results also indicated that, when considering the total sample, there was no significant difference in the magnitude of correlations found between the true/false versus the 6-point Likert scored BHS and the convergent measures investigated in the study. However, two levels of sex differences were found: within each BHS type tested (true/false and 6-point Likert) higher magnitude correlations were found between BHS scores and all of the other measures investigated for female participants than for male participants (although the differences failed to reach statistical significance) in the true/false BHS condition, and higher magnitude correlations were found for male participants than for female participants (two of the differences were significant at the .05 level) in the 6-point Likert condition. Additionally, within each sex, male participants obtained higher correlations (non-significantly) in the 6-point Likert compared to the true/false BHS condition with all measures investigated, while female participants in the true/false BHS group obtained higher correlations with all of the measures investigated (one of the differences was significant at the .05 level) relative to female participants in the 6-point Likert group. A number of interpretations and implications of the findings are discussed.
Item Metadata
Title |
A comparison of the internal consistency, reliability and convergent validity of two response formats for the Beck hopelessness scale
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Creator | |
Publisher |
University of British Columbia
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Date Issued |
1995
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Description |
The Beck Hopelessness Scale (BHS) is a 20-item true/false
questionnaire designed to measure a respondent's negative
expectancies about the future. The construct of hopelessness has
been found to correlate strongly with suicidal and parasuicidal
behavior, and the BHS i s frequently used in the assessment of
suicide risk.
The primary purpose of the current study was to explore the
impact on the internal consistency reliability and convergent
validity of the BHS, when the scale's item response format was
altered from its published true/false format to a system of
scoring each item on a 6-point Likert scale. The sample
investigated was drawn from an adult non-clinical population.
Results indicated that there was no significant difference
in the magnitude of the internal consistency reliability
coefficients obtained with each of the two response formats
tested. Results also indicated that, when considering the total
sample, there was no significant difference in the magnitude of
correlations found between the true/false versus the 6-point
Likert scored BHS and the convergent measures investigated in the
study. However, two levels of sex differences were found:
within each BHS type tested (true/false and 6-point Likert)
higher magnitude correlations were found between BHS scores and all of the other measures investigated for female participants
than for male participants (although the differences failed to
reach statistical significance) in the true/false BHS condition,
and higher magnitude correlations were found for male
participants than for female participants (two of the differences
were significant at the .05 level) in the 6-point Likert
condition. Additionally, within each sex, male participants
obtained higher correlations (non-significantly) in the 6-point
Likert compared to the true/false BHS condition with all measures
investigated, while female participants in the true/false BHS
group obtained higher correlations with all of the measures
investigated (one of the differences was significant at the .05
level) relative to female participants in the 6-point Likert
group. A number of interpretations and implications of the
findings are discussed.
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Extent |
4474024 bytes
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Genre | |
Type | |
File Format |
application/pdf
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Language |
eng
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Date Available |
2009-01-21
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Provider |
Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
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Rights |
For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use.
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DOI |
10.14288/1.0054066
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URI | |
Degree | |
Program | |
Affiliation | |
Degree Grantor |
University of British Columbia
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Graduation Date |
1995-11
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Campus | |
Scholarly Level |
Graduate
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Aggregated Source Repository |
DSpace
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Item Media
Item Citations and Data
Rights
For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use.