Development and validation of the academic hope scale (AcHS) for students

Abstract Since the majority of hope-related instruments constructed so far assessed the domain-general concept of hope, developing the domain-specific hope scale can provide valuable information in academic fields. The present study aimed at developing and validating the academic hope scale (AcHS). This scale consisted of 27 items which were extracted from the results of interviews with students and based on the theoretical foundations of Snyder’s (The psychology of hope: you can get there from here, 1994) and Pekrun’s theories (Educ Psychol Rev 18(4):315–341, 2006). The psychometric properties of AcHS were examined in two studies. For the first study, 241 high school students and for the second study, 566 undergraduate students were selected using the multi-stage random cluster sampling method. The results of an exploratory factor analysis in the first study showed that there were 4 components of AcHS, namely hope to gain opportunities, hope to gain life skills, hope in school’s usefulness, and hope to gain competency. In the second study, the results of the confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the existence of the 4 components of AcHS. The Cronbach’s Alpha (α) and McDonald’s Omega (ω) coefficients in both studies indicate high levels of scale reliability. The results provide evidence that the AcHS has appropriate reliability and validity in both high school and university populations.