OBJECTIVES The purpose of this study was to assess the relationships between stigma and shame associated with seeking treatment for sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and undergoing testing for gonorrhea and HIV. METHODS Participants were 847 males and 1126 females (mean age: 24.9 years) in 7 cities. Two scales assessed STD-related stigma and STD-related shame. RESULTS Rates of stigma and...

Empirical studies have found associations between eating pathology and childhood experiences of being bullied and teased about appearance. However, the nature of these links is not clear. This study investigated the possible links between such experiences and eating disorders, focusing on the potential mediating role of two socially oriented emotions--shame and social anxiety. Ninety-two eating...

This study examined differences in body-related shame, guilt, pride, and envy based on intrapersonal characteristics of sex, age, and weight status in 527 Canadian adults. Compared to men, women reported significantly higher shame and guilt contextualized to the body. No sex differences were observed for envy or pride. Middle-aged adults reported higher shame and lower pride compared with young...

Despite the wealth of theoretical claims about the emotion of humiliation and its effect on human relations, there has been a lack of empirical research investigating what it means to experience humiliation. We studied the affective characteristics of humiliation, comparing the emotional experience of intergroup humiliation to two other emotions humiliation is often confused with: anger and sha...

A self-regulatory framework for distinguishing between shame and guilt was tested in three studies. Recently, two forms of moral regulation based on approach versus avoidance motivation have been proposed in the literature. Proscriptive regulation is sensitive to negative outcomes, inhibition based, and focused on what we should not do. Prescriptive regulation is sensitive to positive outcomes,...

We analyze how subjects’ self-assessment depends on whether its accuracy is observable to others. We find that women downgrade their self-assessment given observability while men do not. Women avoid the shame they may have if others observe that they overestimated themselves. Men, however, do not seem to be similarly shame-averse. This gender difference may be due to different societal expectat...

Objectives: To test the hypotheses that (1) women who know that human papillomavirus (HPV) is sexually transmitted will expect to experience higher levels of stigma, shame and anxiety if they test positive for the virus than women who are not aware of the mode of transmission and (2) women who are aware of the high prevalence of HPV infection will expect to experience lower levels of stigma, sh...

Childhood sexual abuse is prevalent among people living with HIV, and the experience of shame is a common consequence of childhood sexual abuse and HIV infection. This study examined the role of shame in health-related quality of life among HIV-positive adults who have experienced childhood sexual abuse. Data from 247 HIV-infected adults with a history of childhood sexual abuse were analyzed. H...

Wright, O'Leary, and Balkin (1989) have laudably used an empirical approach to increase our understanding of the roles played by shame, guilt, and sex differences in depression and narcissism. However, the lack of construct validity for the guilt scale they used seriously compromises some of their conclusions. At variance with those conclusions, other studies suggest that guilt may not be less ...