Shame- and guilt-proneness in an italian sample: Latent structure and gender invariance of the personal feelings questionnaire-2 (PFQ-2)

Mapping Emotion Regulation Patterns Within the Alternative Model of Personality Disorders Personality Traits

Personality pathology is associated with emotional problems that are potentially attributable to problematic emotion regulation strategy patterns. We evaluated the emotion regulation strategies associated with the pathological personality traits in the Alternative Model of Personality Disorders (AMPD). A total of 504 participants completed measures of AMPD traits and strategy usage, which were analyzed using hierarchical regressions and latent profile analysis (LPA). Regression results demonstrated that each trait was associated with a unique strategy pattern: negative affect with emotional overengagement, detachment with socialemotional avoidance, antagonism with emotional externalization/avoidance, disinhibition with emotional avoidance and overengagement, and psychoticism with strategies linked to psychotic/dissociative experiences. The LPA identified three profiles with heightened AMPD traits: an internalizing/distressed profile, an externalizing/distressed profile, and a schizoid-schizotypal profile; each had a unique strategy pattern that varied depending on trait composition. This research highlights the relevance of emotion regulation strategy patterns in the assessment, conceptualization, and treatment of personality pathology.

Self-Compassion, Anxiety and Depression Symptoms; the Mediation of Shame and Guilt

Self-compassion is related to psychological well-being and can improve mental health problems. The present study aimed to examine the relationship of self-compassion with anxiety and depression symptoms considering the mediating effects of shame and guilt. Two hundred forty-three participants in Iran completed the measures of Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scale (DASS), self-compassion Scale-Short Form (SCS-SF), and personal feelings questionnaire-2 (PFQ-2 Brief). The result showed that there was a significant negative correlation between self-compassion and shame, guilt, depression, and anxiety. The correlation between shame and guilt with depression and anxiety was also positive and significant. Mediation analysis was used to examine whether self-compassion predicted decreased symptoms of depression and anxiety through decreased shame and guilt. The results showed that self-compassion has a negative direct effect on depression symptoms. The direct effect of self-compassion on anxiety symptoms was not significant. Moreover, we found that shame and guilt mediate the relationship between self-compassion and depressive symptoms. However, the indirect effect of guilt on anxiety symptoms was not significant. The findings of the current study demonstrate that Self-compassion is linked to more psychological strengths and efficient emotional regulations, leading to less self-conscious emotions (shame and guilt) and decreased depression and anxiety symptoms.

Comorbid eating, depressive, and anxiety psychopathology is associated with elevated shame in women with food insecurity

OBJECTIVE

To compare participants with current food insecurity and different psychopathology profiles on shame, guilt, anxiety, and depression using a cross-sectional design.

METHOD

Women with current food insecurity (n = 99; 54% White) were placed into four groups based on their endorsement of symptoms of psychopathology: eating disorder with depression/anxiety comorbidity (ED-C group; n = 17), depression/anxiety only (Depression/anxiety group; n = 34), eating disorder only (ED group; n = 12), and No-diagnosis group (n = 36). Groups were compared on self-report measures of shame, guilt, depression, and anxiety using analysis of covariance.

RESULTS

The presence of an eating disorder was associated with quadruple the risk of screening positive for comorbid depression and anxiety. The ED-C group reported elevated shame relative to the ED and No-diagnosis groups. The ED-C group reported the highest levels of anxiety, followed by the Depression/anxiety group, and the ED and No-diagnosis groups.

DISCUSSION

The presence of an eating disorder with comorbidity among women with food insecurity is associated with heightened shame. Given shame's status as a transdiagnostic predictor of psychopathology, it may serve as a putative mechanism underlying the relationship between food insecurity and eating disorder comorbidity.

PUBLIC SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT

Women with food insecurity and an ED were more likely to also screen positive for depression and/or anxiety than women with food insecurity and no ED. Overlap between ED, depression, and anxiety was associated with elevated shame, a harmful, maladaptive emotion with negative psychosocial consequences.

Ashamed or afraid? Traumatic symptom severity and emotional activations of Covid-19-related events

This study investigates the role of shame, guilt, and fear activations related to Covid-19 stressful experiences in predicting traumatic symptoms. We focused on 72 Italian adults recruited in Italy. The primary outcome was to explore the traumatic symptoms severity and negative emotions associated with COVID-19-related experiences. The presence of traumatic symptoms was met by a total of 36%. Shame and fear activations predicted traumatic scales. Qualitative content analysis identified Self-centered, and Externally-centered counterfactual thoughts and five relevant subcategories were also identified. The present findings suggest the importance of shame in the maintenance of traumatic symptoms related to COVID-19 experiences.

A brief measure of guilt and shame: validation of the Guilt and Shame Questionnaire (GSQ-8)

Background: Guilt and shame regulate basic human processes such as social cognition and relations. Both emotions are also involved in the aetiology and maintenance of trauma-related mental disorders such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, a concise scale that adequately captures these constructs is currently lacking, impeding research efforts to understand them more thoroughly.Objective: To this end, we developed the eight-item Guilt and Shame Questionnaire (GSQ-8) in English, German, and Dutch.Method: We examined the reliability and validity of the GSQ-8 in a clinical sample of adults seeking treatment for childhood-trauma-related posttraumatic stress disorder (n = 209), a sample of adults who had suffered at least one traumatic life event reporting different levels of PTSD symptoms (n = 556), and a non-clinical sample of adults (n = 156).Results: Theory-driven confirmatory factor analyses confirmed two correlated latent factors guilt and shame with four items for each factor. Across all samples, two-factor models yielded better model fit than one-factor solutions. Measurement invariance across the three samples, gender, and Dutch and German language was mostly established. Guilt and shame composite scores were associated with PTSD symptoms, depressive symptoms, life satisfaction, mental health-related quality of life, and self-blame, thus supporting scale validity. Importantly, both subscales predicted PTSD symptoms, depression, life satisfaction, and mental health-related quality of life over and above cognitions of self-blame.Conclusions: The GSQ-8 is a parsimonious, reliable, and valid tool to assess guilt and shame in clinical, sub-clinical, and non-clinical populations, allowing applications across a broad range of research questions.

Psychometric Evaluation of the Personal Feelings Questionnaire-2 (PFQ-2) Shame Subscale Among Spanish-Speaking Female Sex Workers in Mexico

Shame may increase HIV risk among stigmatized populations. The Personal Feelings Questionnaire-2 (PFQ-2) measures shame, but has not been validated in Spanish-speaking or nonclinical stigmatized populations disproportionately affected by HIV in resource-limited settings. We examined the psychometric properties of the Spanish-translated PFQ-2 shame subscale among female sex workers in two Mexico-U.S. border cities. From 2016 to 2017, 602 HIV-negative female sex workers in Tijuana and Ciudad Juarez participated in an efficacy trial evaluating a behavior change maintenance intervention. Interviewer-administered surveys collected information on shame (10-item PFQ-2 subscale), psychosocial factors, and sociodemographics. Item performance, confirmatory factor analysis, internal consistency, differential item functioning by city, and concurrent validity were assessed. Response options were collapsed to 3-point responses to improve item performance, and one misfit item was removed. The revised 9-item shame subscale supported a single construct and had good internal consistency (Cronbach's α = .86). Notable differential item functioning was found but resulted in a negligible effect on overall scores. Correlations between the revised shame subscale and guilt (r = .79, p < .01), depression (r = .69, p < .01), and emotional support (r = -.28, p < .01) supported concurrent validity. The revised PFQ-2 shame subscale showed good reliability and concurrent validity in our sample, and should be explored in other stigmatized populations.

A systematic review of self-report measures of generalized shame

OBJECTIVE

Shame is a transdiagnostic emotion of strong clinical and research interest. Yet, there is a lack of consensus on the definition and varying methods employed across self-report measures, potentially affecting our ability to accurately study shame and examine whether clinical interventions to alter shame are effective. This paper offers a systematic review of self-report measures of generalized shame.

METHODS

PubMed, PsycInfo, and Web of Science were searched. Studies were included when they were available in English and the primary aim was to evaluate measurement properties of scales or subscales designed to measure generalized shame in adults.

RESULTS

Thirty-six papers examining 19 scales were identified, with measures of trait shame more common than state shame. Construct validity, internal consistency, and structural validity were relative strengths. Development and content validity studies were lacking and suffered from low methodological quality.

CONCLUSIONS

All measures evaluated needed additional research to meet criteria for recommended use.

I regret to hide knowledge: a coping strategy model

Purpose

This study aims to examine the effect of knowledge hiding (KH) on organizational citizenship behavior toward individuals (OCBI) through the mediation of self-conscious emotions (SCE), namely, shame and guilt. This paper further considers the supervisor’s Islamic work ethics (IWE) as a conditional variable.

Design/methodology/approach

In this quantity-based research, this paper collected data from 473 employees working in various service and manufacturing organizations through Google form at two-lags.

Findings

The study applied structural equation modeling and identified that employees experience SCE due to KH. More specifically, rationalized hiding was found to have a negative effect, whereas playing dumb and evasive hiding was found to have a positive effect on shame and guilt. The results also revealed SCE (shame and guilt) as mediators between KH and OCBI. Further, the supervisor’s IWE was found to be a conditional variable to strengthen the association between KH and SCE.

Research limitations/implications

The study collected data from a single source. However, the issue of common method variance was tackled through time-lags.

Practical implications

The study suggests that supervisors must communicate with employees about the negative outcomes of KH. They must create such an environment that discourages the engagement of employees in KH and encourages the employees to engage themselves in helping behaviors to maintain a productive and creative work environment.

Originality/value

This study adds to the limited literature on the emotional consequences of KH from knowledge hiders’ perspective and unfolds the behavior-emotion-behavior sequence through the emotional pathway. More specifically, this study examined the negative emotional effect of hiding the knowledge that leads to compensatory strategy (organizational citizenship behavior) through SCE (shame and guilt). Finally, zooming into SCE, this study elucidates the supervisor’s IWE as a conditional variable.