Hopelessness, Coping Skills, and Social Competence in a Child Inpatient Population (2009)

Undergraduate: Chelsea Black

Faculty Advisor: Stacie DeFreitas
Department: Psychology & Neuroscience

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Hopelessness is often indicated as an important feature of psychiatric disorders, particularly suicide and depression. While this construct has been frequently investigated in the context of adult psychiatric disorders and treatment, there is a dearth of research examining hopelessness and its behavioral correlates in a child popultaion. The current study examined the hypothesis that high levels of hopelessness would be related to low levels of coping skills and social competence. No correlation was found between hopelessness and coping skills or hopelessness and social skills, but children with low hopelessness showed fewer problem behaviors than children with high hopelessness. These results support previous findings that individuals with high levels of hopelessness experience more psychological difficulties and poorer outcomes than individuals with low levels of hopelessness, and suggest that coping skills, social skills, and hopelessness influence treatment outcomes through different pathways.