Table 2.

Item characteristics

Item	Item content	Endorsement rate	SE	P i	r it
1*	hope and enthusiasm	0.19	0.008	19	.56
2	might as well give up	0.13	0.007	13	.49
3*	bad things won’t stay forever	0.08	0.005	8	.33
4	can’t imagine live in 10 years	0.51	0.010	51	.25
5*	enough time for accomplishments	0.21	0.008	21	.48
6*	expect to succeed	0.13	0.007	13	.57
7	dark future	0.14	0.007	14	.64
8*	particularly lucky	0.55	0.010	55	.20
9	can’t get the breaks	0.25	0.009	25	.46
10*	well prepared for the future	0.10	0.006	10	.45
11	unpleasantness ahead	0.19	0.008	19	.64
12	don’t expect to get what I really want	0.35	0.010	35	.50
13*	future will be happier	0.52	0.010	52	.03
14	things just don’t work out	0.31	0.009	31	.57
15*	faith in the future	0.21	0.008	21	.57
16	never get what I want	0.13	0.007	13	.53
17	real satisfaction unlikely	0.18	0.008	18	.63
18	future vague and uncertain	0.30	0.009	30	.59
19*	more good times	0,19	0.008	19	.53
20	no use in trying	0.21	0.008	21	.56
		M	SD	P i
BHS-sum score		4.87	4.33	24	–

Note. Items marked by an asterisk indicate inversely scored items. All correlations were significant on the .001 level; SE = Standard Error of the endorsement rates; P_i = item difficulty; r_it = item-rest correlation