Native American Children and Their Reports of Hope: A Factor Analytic Comparison

Abstract

The present study investigated the applicability of the Hope Theory (Snyder et al., 1991) among a Native American child population in the Midwest. Dependent variables included (a) the Hope Interview and (b) the Children's Hope Scale. By assessing these variables, this study addressed the following questions: (a) Is the conceptualization of hope that is used predominately with European American samples, similar to the conceptualization of hope among Native American child populations?; and (b) Do Native American children's responses to the Children's Hope scale load on the same two-factor hope model similar to the previous validation study (Snyder, Hoza, et al., 1997)? Results show that scores of Native American children loaded similar to the validation study participants, suggesting the Children's Hope Scale is applicable with Native American populations. Implications and future research directions are reviewed.