Resource Tag: BECK HOPELESSNESS SCALE

An investigation with 86 university students tested the concurrent & convergent validity of Beck’s & Yufit’s scales of suicide risk. Moderate correlations were found between these 2 scales. Both authors had stressed the importance of time perspective in the development of their scales. Beck’s Hopelessness Scale was found to correlate well with other attitudinal measures […]

The link between social support & suicidal ideation among 305 university students was examined. Social support was significantly correlated with suicidal ideation, but social support did not contribute to the variation in suicidal ideation scores beyond the joint contribution of scores on the Beck Depression Inventory & Hopelessness Scale. A stronger relationship between social support […]

This letter to the editor analyzes the Beck Hopelessness Scale. The author admits it is a farly sensitive instrument; however, he criticizes Beck for the high numbers assessed as suicidal, while few actually demonstrated such behavior. He also criticizes Beck for not providing data on certain demographic variables. Beck responds by pointing out that even […]

Relations between hopelessness, depression, social desirability & parasuicide were examined. Multiple operationalizations of each construct were used & 2 college populations were compared (1 seeking treatment, 1 not seeking treatment). Hopelessness related to parasuicide in the seeking treatment group but not in the other group. Implications for suicide screening & prevention in treatment versus nontreatment […]

A prospective study of 1958 outpatients found that hopelessness, as measured by the Beck Hopelessness Scale, was significantly related to eventual suicide. A scale cutoff score of 9 or above identified 16 (94.2%) of the 17 patients who eventually committed suicide, thus replicating a previous study with hospitalized patients. The Beck Hopelessness Scale thus may […]

A 9-point clinical rating scale was used to assess the severity of hopelessness in 141 patients hospitalized with suicidal ideation. The patients were followed for 5-10 yrs & 10 eventually completed suicide. The mean hopelessness rating for the patients completing suicide was significantly higher than for patients who did not suicide. A cutoff score of […]

In this study, 247 non-psychotic patients who had attempted suicide were given a number of psychological tests, including the Beck Hopelessness Scale & the Depressivity Scale. The authors performed a multi-dimensional assessment & found that the Hopelessness Scale correlated fairly highly with depressivity. The Hopelessness Scale did not predict one-year outcomes effectively, especially with respect […]

Cognitive therapy research has yielded a taxonomy of suicidal behaviors, scales for assessing suicidal ideation & intent & a model of suicidal wishes & behavior that identified hopelessness as a key psychological variable in suicide prediction. The establishment of hopelessness as a suicide risk factor has been supported most strongly by prospective studies of inpatients […]

Based on 2 studies, hopelessness appears to be the major clinical issue requiring identification & intervention. 5-10 years after 207 psychiatric inpatients with suicidal ideas were given depression, suicidal ideation, & hopelessness scales. Only the hopelessness scale was predictive in the 14 subsequent suicides. Another study finds that chronic schizophrenic cases displaying symptoms of hopelessness, […]

This study investigates the effectiveness of inpatient psychiatric treatment for the prevention of suicidal behavior. For nearly 2 years after discharge, all nonsuicidal subjects remained so & half of the suicidal subjects discontinued such behavior. Significant discriminating variables were prior substance abuse, good peer relations & Beck Depression Inventory scores. Of interest, was the finding […]

The intensity of depressive symptomatology, lethality of current suicide ideation, & cognitive variables presumed to mediate depression & suicidality were measured for 136 adults with major depression. Findings: depressive symptomatology was best predictd by Beck’s Hopelessness Scale in combination with the detachment factor of the Crandell Cognitions Inventory; & suicidality, by the selective abstraction & […]

Data from 463 patients with self inflicted injuries, comparing 99 multiple suicide attempters (MSAs) with 1st attempters were rated on lethality, intent & hopelessness scales. 14% of the total suicide attempt population were found to be chronic. MSAs showed more chronicity, poorer coping histories of suicidal behavior & positive histories of substance abuse. MSAs also […]

Findings regarding social desirability confounding on Beck’s hopelessness scale are presented. Data from 60 suicidal & nonsuicidal psychiatric inpatients were examined for correlations between hopessness scores & suicidality. Controlling for social desirability did not affect this correlation, nor did use of sd scores in a discriminant analysis improve accuracy of classification into severely suicidal & […]

This letter to the editor addresses issues raised by an article in which Beck discusses the use of his hopelessness scale as an indicator of long-term suicide risk. It is suggested that the predictive power actually lies in the low scores on the scale & a rationale is given. Dr. Beck’s reply is included. (LH)

This study examines the relationship of patients’ response style to clinicians’ ratings of intent. 50 suicide ideators were assessed using 3 scales. An item factor analysis of the scale for suicide ideation yielded 2 factors: suicidal desire & suicide preparation. Hopelessness & undesirability were associated with suicidal desire; hoplessness was independent of suicide preparation. It […]

35 people admitted to hospital following deliberate self-harm by overdose were interviewed. Patients rated several reasons for making the attempt on 0-10-point scales, & completed the Beck Hopelessness scale. High hopelessness was associated with an increased wish to die. Intercorrelations between reasons suggested that in low hopelessness interpersonal reasons were the most central constructs, whereas […]

Several articles have debated the clinical significance of the negative relationship between the Beck Hopelessness Scale & the social desirability response style. The clinical utility of including social desirability assessment in the risk assessment & prediction of suicidal behavior is analyzed using both a general population & psychiatric sample. Results indicate that prediction accuracy is […]

In this study response style or desirability set is factored out of the Beck Hopelessness Scale & very little is left. Without SD, the scale no longer measures hopelessness. The authors conclude that “Results highlight the need to sharpen the assessment of hopelessness so as to separate the construct of hopelessness from the tendency to […]

86 psychiatric outpatients, diagnosed by RDC criteria as depressed, were administered the Hopelessness Scale. Results indicate hopelessness to be common, but not universal, in depression. Factor analysis revealed 5 factors accounting for 61.2% of the total variance. Interviewing an additional 20 subjects indicated that hopelessness was associated with suicidal wishes & with negative expectations about […]

73 inpatients completed Beck’s Suicide Ideator Scale, Beck’s Hopelessness Scale and the MMPI Depression Scale. As hypothesized, suicide intent was significantly more correlated with hopelessness than with depression. When the effect of hopelessness was removed statistically, there was no relationship between suicide intent and depression.

A recent article questioned the construct validity of the Beck Hopelessness Scale on the basis of its covariation with the Edwards Social Desirability Inventory. Author suggests social desirability should not be invoked as a potential confound unless the obtained covariation is theoretically inconsistent or is so overlapping as to make the respective scales redundant with […]

Study to assess the effectiveness of various treatments of suicide attempters using fifteen psychiatric patients randomly assigned to the cognitive restructuring group, the problem solving group and the non-directive control group. Assessment instruments used were Self-Monitoring of Suicidal Ideation, the Scale for Suicide Ideation, Hopelessness Scale, Means-Ends Problem Solving and Alternate Uses Test. (KB)