Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Measuring Shame in Adolescents: Validation Studies of the External and Internal Shame Scale in a Community Sample

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Child & Youth Care Forum Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Background

Shame, as a self-conscious, complex, and universal emotion, plays an important role in mental health. In adolescents, given their greater vulnerability to the development of psychological difficulties, the assessment of shame, in its various dimensions, is especially relevant.

Objective

To adapt and validate the External and Internal Shame Scale for adolescents (EISS-A). Specifically, the EISS-A factor structure, reliability, and validity were analysed.

Methods

The studies were conducted in two Portuguese independent samples aged 12 to 18 years old (N = 497; 58.2% female). Participants voluntarily completed a set of self-report questionnaires in the classroom. Forty-one adolescents completed the EISS-A 4-weeks after the first administration.

Results

The second-order confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the EISS-A model of two related factors (external and internal shame). This model was replicated in a second independent sample. The EISS-A showed measure invariance across sex. It revealed adequate internal consistency (α = .85), test–retest reliability (r = .81), and concurrent validity with different measures of positive and negative affect. Girls showed higher shame (internal and external) scores. Age and education showed a weak positive association with shame. The EISS-A presented significant positive correlations with indicators of psychopathology (symptoms of anxiety and depression), with self-criticism and external shame (assessed by another instrument). Inversely, it showed negative associations with self-reassurance and with favourable social comparison.

Conclusions

The EISS-A is a short, reliable, and useful measure for research, educational and clinical contexts with school-aged adolescents. Measuring shame may contribute to a broader understanding of its role during the most formative years of an individual’s life.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig.1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Allan, S., & Gilbert, P. (1995). A social comparison scale: Psychometric properties and relationship to psychopathology. Personality and Individual Differences, 19(3), 293–299. https://doi.org/10.1016/0191-8869(95)00086-L.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Allan, S., Gilbert, P., & Goss, K. (1994). An exploration of shame measures: II: psychopathology. Personality and Individual Differences, 17(5), 719–722. https://doi.org/10.1016/0191-8869(94)90150-3.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Arditte, K. A., Morabito, D. M., Shaw, A. M., & Timpano, K. R. (2016). Interpersonal risk for suicide in social anxiety: The roles of shame and depression. Psychiatry Research, 239, 139–144. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2016.03.017.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Baldwin, M. W. (1997). Relational schemas as a source of if-then self-inference procedures. Review of General Psychology, 1(4), 326–335. https://doi.org/10.1037/1089-2680.1.4.326.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baldwin, M. W., & Holmes, J. G. (1987). Salient private audiences and awareness of the self. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52(6), 1087–1098. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.52.6.1087.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baumeister, R. F., Tice, D. M., & Hutton, D. G. (1989). Self-presentational motivations and personality differences in self-esteem. Journal of Personality, 57(3), 547–579. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6494.1989.tb02384.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Byrne, B. M. (2010). Structural equation modeling with AMOS: Basic concepts, applications, and Programming (2nd ed.). New York: Taylor & Francis Group.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carvalho, C., Cunha, M., Cherpe, S., Galhardo, A., & Couto, M. (2015). Validação da versão portuguesa da Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale for Children (CES-DC) [Validation of the Portuguese version of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale for Children (CES-DC)]. Revista Portuguesa de Investigação Comportamental e Social (Portuguese Journal of Behavioral and Social Research), 1(2), 46–57. https://doi.org/10.7342/ismt.rpics.2015.1.2.23.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cook, D. R. (1994, 2001). Internalised shame scale: Technical manual. New York: Multi-Health Systems, Inc.

  • Costello, E. J., Copeland, W., & Angold, A. (2011). Trends in psychopathology across the adolescent years: What changes when children become adolescents, and when adolescents become adults? Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 52(10), 1015–1025. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7610.2011.02446.x.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Crocker, J., & Major, B. (1989). Social stigma and self-esteem: The self-protective qualities of stigma. Psychological Review, 96(4), 608–630. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.96.4.608.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cunha, M., Matos, M., Faria, D., & Zagalo, S. (2012). Shame memories and psychopathology in adolescence: The mediator effect of shame. International Journal of Psychology & Psychological Therapy, 12(2), 203–218. https://www.ijpsy.com/volumen12/num2/327/shame-memories-and-psychopathology-in-adolescence-EN.pdf

  • Cunha, M., & Santos, A. M. (2011). Avaliação da inflexibilidade psicológica em adolescentes: Estudo das qualidades psicométricas da versão portuguesa do Avoidance and Fusion Questionnaire for Youth (AFQ-Y). [Assessment of psychological inflexibility in adolescents: Study of the psychometric properties of the Avoidance and Fusion Questionnaire for Youth (AFQ-Y)]. Laboratório de Psicologia, 9(2), 133–146. http://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.14417/lp.629

  • Cunha, M., Xavier, A., Cherpe, S., & Pinto-Gouveia, J. (2017a). Avaliação da vergonha em adolescentes: ‘The Other as Shamer Scale’ [Assessment of shame in adolescents: The Others as Shamer Scale]. Psicologia: Teoria e Pesquisa, 33, 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1590/0102.3772e3336

  • Cunha, M., Xavier, A., Zagalo, S., & Matos, M. (2017b). Assessment of the impact of traumatic events during adolescence: Validation of the Impact of Event Scale-Revised. Estudos de Psicologia, 34(2), 249–260. https://doi.org/10.1590/1982-02752017000200006.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dancey, C. P., & Reidy, J. (2017). Statistics without maths for psychology (7th ed.). London: Pearson Education Inc.

    Google Scholar 

  • Duarte, C., Pinto-Gouveia, J., & Rodrigues, T. (2015). Being bullied and feeling ashamed: Implications for eating psychopathology and depression in adolescent girls. Journal of Adolescence, 44, 259–268. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2015.08.005.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Else-Quest, N. M., Higgins, A., Allison, C., & Morton, L. C. (2012). Gender differences in self-conscious emotional experience: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 138(5), 947–981. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0027930.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ferreira, C., Moura-Ramos, M., Matos, M., & Galhardo, A. (2020). A new measure to assess external and internal shame: Development, factor structure and psychometric properties of the external and internal shame scale. Current Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-020-00709-0.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Field, A. (2013). Discovering Statistics using IBM SPSS Statistics. London: Sage Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Finney, S., & DiStefano, C. (2006). Non-normal and categorical data in structural equation modeling. In G. Hancock & R. Mueller (Eds.), Structural equation modeling: A second course (pp. 269–314). Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fornell, C., & Larcker, D. (1981). Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error. Journal of Marketing Research, 18(1), 39–50. https://doi.org/10.2307/3151312.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gilbert, P. (1998). What is shame? Some core issues and controversies. In P. Gilbert & B. Andrews (Eds.), Shame: Interpersonal behaviour, psychopathology and culture (pp. 3–36). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gilbert, P. (2002). Body shame: A biopsychosocial conceptualisation and overview, with treatment implications. In P. Gilbert & J. Miles (Eds.), Body shame: Conceptualisation, research and treatment (pp. 3–54). New York: Brunner-Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gilbert, P. (2003). Evolution, social roles and the differences in shame and guilt. Social Research, 70(4), 1205–1230.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gilbert, P. (2007). The evolution of shame as a marker for relationship security. In J. L. Tracy, R. W. Robins, & J. P. Tangney (Eds.), The self-conscious emotions: Theory and research (pp. 283–309). New York: The Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gilbert, P. (2009). The compassionate mind: A new approach to the challenge of life. London: Constable & Robinson.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gilbert, P., Clarke, M., Hempel, S., Miles, J., & Irons, C. (2004). Criticising and reassuring oneself: An exploration of forms, styles and reasons in female students. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 43, 31–50. https://doi.org/10.1348/014466504772812959.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gilbert, P., & Irons, C. (2009). Shame, self-criticism, and self-compassion in adolescence. In N. Allen & L. Sheeber (Eds.), Adolescent emotional development and the emergence of depressive disorders (pp. 195–214). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. http://doi.doi:https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511551963.

  • Goss, K., Gilbert, P., & Allan, S. (1994). An exploration of shame measures - I: The “Other as Shamer Scale.” Personality and Individual Differences, 17(5), 713–717. https://doi.org/10.1016/0191-8869(94)90149-X.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Halamová, J., Kanovský, M., Kupeli, N., Gilbert, P., Troop, N., Zuroff, D., et al. (2018). The factor structure of the Forms of Self-criticising/Attacking & Self-reassuring Scale in thirteen distinct populations. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 40, 736–751. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-018-9686-2.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Hu, L., & Bentler, P. M. (1999). Cut-off criteria for fit indexes in covariance, structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Structural Equation Modelling: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 6(1), 1–55. https://doi.org/10.1080/10705519909540118.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Irons, C., & Gilbert, P. (2005). Evolved mechanisms in adolescent anxiety and depression symptoms: The role of the attachment and social rank systems. Journal of Adolescence, 28(3), 325–341. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2004.07.004.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Januário, P., & Salvador, M. C. (2011). A versão portuguesa da Escala de Vergonha Interna para adolescentes (ISS-A): Características psicométricas. [Unpublished manuscript]. [The Portuguese version of the Internal Shame Scale for adolescents (ISS-A): Psychometric properties]. Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences of the University of Coimbra.

  • Kaufman, G. (1989). The psychology of shame: Theory and treatment of shame-based syndromes. New York: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kessler, R. C., Berglund, P., Demler, O., Jin, R., Merikangas, K. R., & Walters, E. E. (2005). Lifetime prevalence and age-of-onset distributions of DSM-IV disorders in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication. Archives of General Psychiatry, 62(6), 593–602. https://doi.org/10.1001/archpsyc.62.6.593.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kim, S., Thibodeau, R., & Jorgensen, R. S. (2011). Shame, guilt, and depressive symptoms: A meta-analytic review. Psychological Bulletin, 137(1), 68–96. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0021466.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kline, R. B. (2005). Principles and practice of structural equation modelling (2nd ed.). New York: The Guildford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Levinson, C. A., Byrne, M., & Rodebaugh, T. L. (2016). Shame and guilt as shared vulnerability factors: shame, but not guilt, prospectively predicts both social anxiety and bulimic symptoms. Eating Behaviors, 22, 188–193. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eatbeh.2016.06.016.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lewis, M. (1992). Shame: The exposed self. New York: The Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lewis, M. (2000). Self-conscious emotions: Embarrassment, pride, shame and guilt. In M. Lewis & J. M. Haviland-Jones (Eds.), Handbook of emotions (pp. 623–636). New York: The Guildford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lovibond, P., & Lovibond, S. (1995). The structure of negative emotional states: Comparison of the depression anxiety stress scales (DASS) with the Beck Depression and Anxiety Inventories. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 33(3), 335–343. https://doi.org/10.1016/0005-7967(94)00075-U.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Matos, M., Pinto-Gouveia, J., & Costa, V. (2013). Understanding the importance of attachment in shame traumatic memory relation to depression: The impact of emotion regulation processes. Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, 20, 149–165. https://doi.org/10.1002/cpp.786.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Matos, M., Pinto-Gouveia, J., & Gilbert, P. (2013). The effect of shame and shame memories on paranoid ideation and social anxiety. Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy, 20(4), 334–349. https://doi.org/10.1002/cpp.1766.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Muris, P., & Meesters, C. (2014). Small or big in the eyes of the other: On the developmental psychopathology of self-conscious emotions as shame guilt and pride. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 17(1), 19–40. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10567-013-0137-z.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Muris, P., Meesters, C., Bouwman, L., & Notermans, S. (2015). Relations among behavioral inhibition, shame- and guilt-proneness, and anxiety disorders symptoms in non-clinical children. Child Psychiatry & Human Development, 46, 209–216. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-014-0457-3.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Muris, P., Meesters, C., Heijmans, J., Van Hulten, S., Kaanen, L., Oerlemans, B., et al. (2016). Lack of guilt, guilt, and shame: a multi-informant study on the relations between self-conscious emotions and psychopathology in clinically referred children and adolescents. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 25(4), 383–396. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-015-0749-6.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Muris, P., Meesters, C., & van Asseldonk, M. (2018). Shame on me! Self-conscious emotions and big five personality traits and their relations to anxiety disorders symptoms in young, non-clinical adolescents. Child Psychiatry & Human Development, 49(2), 268–278. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-017-0747-7.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pais-Ribeiro, J. L., Honrado, A., & Leal, I. (2004). Contribuição para o estudo da adaptação portuguesa das Escalas de Ansiedade, Depressão e Stress (EADS) de 21 itens de Lovibond e Lovibond. [Contribution to the adaptation study of the Portuguese adaptation of the Lovibond and Lovibond Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scales (DASS) with 21 items]. Psicologia, Saúde & Doenças, 5(1), 229–239. http://www.scielo.mec.pt/pdf/psd/v5n2/v5n2a07.pdf

  • Paulus, D. J., Vanwoerden, S., Norton, P. J., & Sharp, C. (2016). Emotion dysregulation, psychological inflexibility, and shame as explanatory factors between neuroticism and depression. Journal of Affective Disorders, 190, 376–385. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2015.10.014.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Peterson, R. A., & Kim, Y. (2013). On the relationship between coefficient alpha and composite reliability. Journal of Applied Psychology, 98(1), 194–198. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0030767.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pinto-Gouveia, J., & Matos, M. (2010). Can shame memories become a key to identity? The centrality of shame memories predicts psychopathology. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 25, 281–290. https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.1689.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Raykov, T. (1997). Estimation of composite reliability for congeneric measures. Applied Psychological Measurement, 21(2), 173–184. https://doi.org/10.1177/01466216970212006.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rebelo, S. (2012). Fobia social em adolescentes: O papel da vergonha e do autocriticismo [Unpublished master’s thesis]. [Social phobia in adolescents: The role of shame and self-criticism]. Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences of the University of Coimbra.

  • Reimer, M. S. (1996). “Sinking into the ground”: The development and consequences of shame in adolescence. Developmental Review, 16(4), 321–363. https://doi.org/10.1006/drev.1996.0015.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Retzinger, S. M. (1991). Violent emotions. Shame and rage in marital quarrels. Newbury Park: Sage Publications.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Scheff, T. J. (2003). Shame in self and society. Symbolic Interaction, 26(2), 239–262. https://doi.org/10.1525/si.2003.26.2.239.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shahar, B., Bar-Kalifa, E., & Hen-Weissberg, A. (2015). Shame during social interactions predict subsequent generalised anxiety symptoms: A daily-diary study. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 34(10), 827–837. https://doi.org/10.1521/jscp.2015.34.10.827.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Silva, C., & Salvador, M. C. (2010). A Escala das Formas de Autocriticismo e de Auto-Tranquilização (FSCRS): Características psicométricas na população adolescente. [Unpublished manuscript]. [The Forms of Self-criticizing/Attacking and Self-reassuring Scale: Psychometric characteristics in adolescents population]. Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences of the University of Coimbra.

  • Sjoberg, R. L., Nilsson, K. W., & Leppert, J. (2005). Obesity, shame, and depression in school-aged children: A population-based study. Pediatrics, 116(3), 389–392. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2005-0170.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Steinberg, L. (2010). A behavioral scientist looks at the science of adolescent brain development. Brain and Cognition, 72(1), 160–164. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bandc.2009.11.003.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tabachnick, B. G., & Fidell, L. S. (2007). Using Multivariate Statistics (5th ed.). New York: Allyn and Bacon.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tangney, J. P., & Dearing, R. L. (2002). Shame and guilt. New York: The Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tangney, J. P., & Fischer, K. W. (Eds.). (1995). The self-conscious emotions: Shame, guilt, embarrassment, and pride. New York: The Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tangney, J. P., & Tracy, J. (2012). Self-conscious emotions. In M. Leary & J. P. Tangney (Eds.), Handbook of self and identity (2nd ed., pp. 446–478). New York: The Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tracy, J. L., & Robins, R. W. (2004). Putting the self into self-conscious emotions: A theoretical model. Psychological Inquiry, 15(2), 103–125. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327965pli1502_01.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • van Tijen, N., Stegge, H., Terwogt, M. M., & van Panhuis, N. (2004). Anger, shame, and guilt in children with externalising problems: An imbalance of affects? European Journal of Developmental Psychology, 1(3), 271–279. https://doi.org/10.1080/17405620444000175.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Walter, J. L., & Burnaford, S. M. (2006). Developmental changes in adolescents’ guilt and shame: The role of family climate and gender. North American Journal of Psychology, 8(2), 321–338. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0033904.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weems, C. F., & Stickle, T. R. (2012). Mediation, incremental validity, and novel intervention development: Introduction to a special issue on youth anxiety and related problems. Child and Youth Care Forum, 41, 509–516. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10566-012-9191-9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • World Health Organization (2018). Adolescents: Health risks and solutions. http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs345/en/

Download references

Acknowledgment

The authors would like to thank all participants for their cooperation.

Funding

There was no funding for this study.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto Superior Miguel Torga, Largo da Cruz de Celas, nº1, 3000-132, Coimbra, Portugal

    Marina Cunha, Patrícia Silva & Ana Galhardo

  2. CINEICC—Centre for Research in Neuropsychology and Cognitive and Behavioural Intervention, Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences of the University of Coimbra, Rua do Colégio Novo, 3000-115, Coimbra, Portugal

    Marina Cunha, Cláudia Ferreira & Ana Galhardo

Authors
  1. Marina Cunha
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Patrícia Silva
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Cláudia Ferreira
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Ana Galhardo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Marina Cunha.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of Interest

The authors have no conflicts of interest.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Cunha, M., Silva, P., Ferreira, C. et al. Measuring Shame in Adolescents: Validation Studies of the External and Internal Shame Scale in a Community Sample. Child Youth Care Forum 50, 971–989 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10566-021-09607-3

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10566-021-09607-3

Keywords

Search

Navigation