The present study evaluated psychometric features and correlates of the Hopelessness Scale for Children among 262 child psychiatric inpatients (ages = 6 to 13 years old). Based on theory and research derived from the investigation of adult depression, hopelessness was examined in relation to depression, self-esteem, and social behavior. The results indicated that the scale was internally consistent, that item-total score correlations and test-retest reliability (over a 6-week period) were in the moderate range, and that individual items discriminated high and low hopelessness children. As predicted, hopelessness correlated positively with depression and negatively with self-esteem and social behavior. Overall, the relation of hopelessness to selected facets of affective and social functioning closely parallel results obtained with adults. Given the availability of a measure of hopelessness for children, several substantive questions regarding antecedents of negative expectations toward the future, the developmental course of these expectations, and the extent to which they predict subsequent dysfunction (e.g., suicidal behavior) in adolescence and adulthood warrant investigation.Hopelessness, or negative expectations toward the future, is considered to be a central feature of depression (Beck, 1976;Melges & Bowlby, 1969). Several years ago, Beck, Weissman, Lester, and Trexler (1974) developed a Hopelessness Scale to measure affective, motivational, and cognitive manifestations of these negative expectations in adults. The measure has been shown in several studies to correlate with depression and to predict suicidal ideation and attempt (e.g., Beck, Kovacs, & Weissman, 1975;Wetzel, Margulies, Davis, & Karam, 1980).The investigation of affective disorders in children has increased in recent years due in part to the application of adult diagnostic criteria to children and the emergence of several measures of depression (see Cantwell & Carlson, 1983;Petti, 1983). The investigation of hopelessness in children is especially interesting for several reasons. To begin with, many believe that negative expectations toward the future, often associated with depression in adults, are unlikely to be evident in children. The reason is the putative inability of children to conceptualize the future clearly (Bemporad & Wilson, 1978;Rie, 1966).Second, the assessment of dysfunction in children depends rather heavily on information provided by significant others, particularly parents and teachers. The measurement of private experience of children, as reflected in feelings and cognitions, remains relatively infrequent. Assessment of hopelessness pro-

The present investigation examined the relation of physical abuse and depressive symptoms among 79 child psychiatric inpatients (ages 6 to 13). Childhood depression, hopelessness, and self-esteem were assessed through questionnaire or interview measures administered to the children. Mothers also completed measures to evaluate their children's dysfunction. As predicted, physically abused children, compared to nonphysically abused patient control subjects, evinced significantly lower self-esteem and greater depression and negative expectations toward their futures. Among abused children, those with both past and current abuse showed more severe symptoms of depression that did those with either past or current abuse only. The differences in depressive symptoms between abused and nonabused children could not be accounted for by differences in child psychiatric diagnosis, age, race, gender, IQ, or severity of psychopathology or parent psychiatric diagnoses, marital, or socioeconomic status. The results suggest that physical abuse, at least for a psychiatric patient sample, is related to symptoms of depression. The possible basis for this relation and the treatment implications of these findings are briefly discussed.Children who have been physically abused are at risk for a variety of psychological symptoms, problems of adjustment, and developmental, motoric, and cognitive deficiencies (Friedrich & Einbender, 1983;Newberger, Newberger, & Hampton, 1983). Among psychiatric problems of abused children, antisocial behaviors have received frequent attention. The focus is understandable given the connections between violence in the home (e.g., child and spouse abuse) and aggressive child behavior and delinquency (e.g., George & Main, 1979;Hunner & Walker, 1981;Kinard, 1980).Relatively little attention has been accorded the investigation of depression among physically abused children. Yet, for several reasons, depressive symptoms might be expected

This study examined the relations between performance on alternative measures of childhood depression and diagnosis of depressive disorder. Hospitalized inpatient children (N = 170, ages 7-13) with a diagnosis of depressive disorder (Research Diagnostic Criteria) were compared with a matched sample of patients whose diagnoses excluded depression. Children and parents completed four standardized depression scales plus measures designed to assess associated features including hopelessness, self-esteem, and internalizing symptoms. The results indicated that alternative depression measures, whether completed by children or parents, yielded scores that were significantly higher for children with a diagnosis of depression; parent ratings of severity of depression were consistently higher among the measures than the child ratings; optimal cutoff scores derived for each measure correctly classified approximately 60% of depressed and nondepressed cases; different cutoff scores were required for the same measure, depending on whether children or parents were the raters; and using a battery of measures and combining these in a stepwise discriminant function yielded over 80% classification accuracy. The implications of the results for selection of cases for clinical research are discussed.

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The present investigation examined the relation of direct observations of overt behavior to depression among 62 child psychiatric inpatients (ages 8-13 years old). Childhood depression was assessed by self-report and interview measures administered separately to children and their mothers. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III; American Psychiatric Association, 1980) diagnoses were also obtained from direct interviews and were supplemented with clinical information. Direct observations of the children were obtained during free-time periods over several days. Multiple behaviors were observed and coded into one of three categories: social activity (e.g., talking with others and playing games), solitary behavior (e.g., working alone on a task and playing alone), and affect-related expression (e.g., smiling and frowning). Depressed children engaged in significantly less social activity and exhibited less affect-related expression than did their nondepressed peers. Overt behavioral measures were consistently related to parent-completed but not to child-completed measures of depression. The present findings suggest that depressive symptoms are reflected in diverse behaviors in everyday life. Finer grained analyses of behavior are needed to follow up these results.Research on childhood depression has increased considerably in recent years (see Cantwell & Carlson, 1983;Petti, 1983). Advances can be attributed in part to the emergence of a large number of assessment techniques. Most of the measures currently available consist of questionnaires and interviews administered to children or their parents (Kazdin & Petti, 1982;Kovacs, 1981). Although these measures have been useful in identifying depression and its correlates, they represent a relatively restricted range of assessment techniques. Also, self-and parentreport measures raise interpretive problems