| While there are several instruments that have been developed to measure hope in adults, adolescents, and children, little research has been done with culturally specific instruments in regards to the construct of hope. As hope is a construct whose definition appears to vary across cultures with different emphasis placed on such things as faith, individualism, and success, it follows that instruments to measure hope should be attuned to those cultural nuances. The African American Adolescent Hope Scale (AAAHS; Moore, 1998) was developed specifically to measure hope in African American adolescents. The instrument was designed with content that was thought to be specific to the culture, needs and environment of the African American adolescent. This study examined the factor structure and reliabilities of the AAAHS, the Hope Scale (Snyder, Harris, et al., 1991), a popular measure of the construct of hope, and the Cultural Mistrust Inventory (CMI; Terrell & Terrell, 1981), a measure of the presumably related construct of cultural mistrust. It was hypothesized that the AAAHS would show a significant positive correlation with the Hope Scale and would show a significant inverse correlation with the CMI.;One hundred seventy-four African American college students completed an internet survey that included a revised version of the AAAHS, the Hope Scale, and the CMI. They were asked to answer questions regarding their beliefs, opinions, and attitudes about themselves, their culture, and African Americans. Principal components analysis yielded two-factor structures for the AAAHS and the Hope Scale, and a four-factor structure for the CMI. Full-scale and factor score internal consistency estimates demonstrated moderate to strong reliabilities for each measure. Consistent with hypothesized results, analysis revealed a significant positive correlation between the AAAHS and the Hope Scale. A significant inverse relationship was found between the AAAHS and the CMI. Additional findings yielded no significant relationship between the Hope Scale and the CMI. |
