Dispositional Hope Scale

What it measures

Measures hope as a cognitive motivational construct involving two components: agency (the will or motivation to use pathways to reach goals) and pathways (the ability to find routes to reach goals). Grounded in Snyder's Hope Theory, which distinguishes hope from optimism, self-efficacy, and positive affect.

Response format

Likert (1–8, definitely false to definitely true); 8 scored items + 4 distractors; total 8–64

Representative items

• I energetically pursue my goals. (Agency)
• I can think of many ways to get out of a tight spot. (Pathways)
• My past experiences have prepared me well for my future. (Agency)
• There are lots of ways around any problem that I am facing now. (Pathways)
• I've been pretty successful in life. (Agency)

Usage notes & scoring

Score items 1, 2, 4, 7 (Agency) and 3, 5, 6, 8 (Pathways); items 9–12 are distractors and not scored. Freely available. Higher = more hopeful. Agency and Pathways subscales can be analysed separately. Widely used alongside optimism (LOT-R) and self-efficacy (GSE) in positive psychology research.

Recommended companion scales

Citation

Snyder, C.R., Harris, C., Anderson, J.R., Holleran, S.A., Irving, L.M., Sigmon, S.T., Yoshinobu, L., Gibb, J., Langelle, C., & Harney, P. (1991). The will and the ways: Development and validation of an individual-differences measure of hope. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 60(4), 570–585.

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