Validation of the Employment Hope Scale (EHS) among summer youth employment program participants

Philip Young P. Hong, Rana Hong, Sangmi Choi

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

9 Scopus citations

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to validate the Employment Hope Scale (EHS) among vulnerable youth who are seeking to enter the workforce through a summer youth employment program (SYEP). Hong, Polanin, and Pigott (2012) developed the EHS as a client-centered measure based on its earlier conceptualization from the client focus group interviews resulting in an original delineation of a 24-item six-factor structure. Considering a dearth of reliable measures of youth employment hope, this study examined the applicability of EHS to the youth population by validating it using a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The results from a sample of 255 SYEP participants found an 18-item 5-factor EHS under two components: (1) psychological empowerment (self-worth; self-perceived capability) and (2) goal-oriented pathways (self-motivation; utilization of skills and resources; goal-orientation). Convergent, discriminant, and known-groups validity tests also confirmed that the EHS is a valid measure among SYEP participants.

Original languageEnglish
Article number104811
JournalChildren and Youth Services Review
Volume111
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 2020

Keywords

  • Employment Hope Scale
  • Measurement
  • Psychological self-sufficiency
  • Summer youth employment program
  • Transforming Impossible into Possible (TIP)
  • Workforce development

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