The Hopelessness Depression Symptom Questionnaire

Evaluated the Hopelessness Depression Symptom Questionnaire (HDSQ; Metalsky & Joiner 1991). The HDSQ is a 32-item self-report measure of eight symptoms posited by L. Abramson, G. Metalsky, and L. Alloy (1989) to comprise a specific subtype of depression-hopelessness depression. Factor analytic results from 435 subjects suggested that: (a) Each of the eight subscales of the HDSQ reflects a distinct symptom of hopelessness depression; and (b) The eight subscales, taken together, reflect one higher-order construct-Hopelessness Depression Symptoms. Diathesis-stress results from a subset of 174 subjects indicated that the attributional diathesis x stress interaction predicted onset of hopelessness depression symptoms on the HDSQ but nor nonhopelessness depression symptoms. The HDSQ should allow for recision in tests of the hopelessness theory of depression.