Evaluation of the Pleasure Scale in the assessment of anhedonia in children.

The Pleasure Scale for Children, a measure developed to assess anhedonia in school-age children, was evaluated. Psychometric properties and concurrent validity of the scale were evaluated with 232 child psychiatric inpatient children (ages 6-13) and their parents. Based on prior research with adults, predictions were made that children with a diagnosis of major depression would evince greater anhedonia on the scale and that anhedonic children (low Pleasure Scale scores) would show a negative attributional style in relation to rewarding experiences. The results indicated that the Pleasure Scale was internally consistent, yielded moderate to high item-total score correlations, appeared to reflect a single dimension, and correlated positively and significantly with other measures of pleasurable affect. Depressed children showed greater anhedonia, as reflected in lower total Pleasure Scale scores and in their pattern of responding to individual items on the scale. Children high in anhedonia, independently of their diagnosis, showed less active involvement in seeking rewards, were higher in their expectations of negative outcomes, and were more likely to attribute unrewarding outcomes to their own behavior than to external causes. Overall, the results provide initial support for the construct validity of the scale. Further research to evaluate nonclinic samples, to develop alternative assessment strategies, to examine developmental differences in reporting pleasurable experiences, and to study the relation of anhedonia to subtypes and clinical course of depression is briefly discussed.