Maltreated children are at increased risk for behavior problems. This study examines a model in which shame mediates the potential relation between maltreatment and anger, and anger mediates the potential relation between shame and behavior problems. Participants were 177 children (ages 3 to 7 years) and their mothers, 90 of whom had histories of perpetrating neglect and/or physical abuse. Phys...

Shame has been called the `negative side of an individual’s motivational scheme’ (Giddens 1991:64) but such statements have not been reflected in work analysing how shame influences motivation. Shame has been identified as having an important role in self-regulation in its capacity to establish or modify a person’s behaviour and thoughts, usually as the result of an act or omission, or a sense ...

A central question of human psychology is whether and when people change for the better. Although it has long been assumed that emotion plays a central role in self-regulation, the role of specific emotions in motivating a desire for self-change has been largely ignored. We report 2 studies examining people's lived experiences of self-conscious emotions, particularly shame, in motivating a desi...

The objectives of this study were to assess the effects of parenting style and child emotionality on the development of proneness to shame in young girls, and the mediating effect of shame on the development of adjustment problems. Eighty-eight girls were assessed twice, at 3 and 5 years of age, along with their mothers and fathers. Shame was assessed by observations (reactions to failure and c...

Based on empirical research with participants from working-class backgrounds studying and working in higher education in England, this article examines the lived experience of shame. Building on a feminist Bourdieusian approach to social class analysis, the article contends that 'struggles for value' within the field of higher education precipitate classed judgements, which have the potential t...

This study examined various psychometric properties of the items comprising the shame and guilt scales of the Test of Self-Conscious Affect-Adolescent (TOSCA-A) in a group children between 8 and 11 years of age. A total of 699 children (367 females and 332 males) completed these scales, and also measures of depression and empathy. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) provided support for an obliq...

PURPOSE The aim of the current study is to test the validity and reliability of the Shame Questionnaire among traumatized girls in Lusaka, Zambia. METHODS The Shame Questionnaire was validated through both classical test and item response theory methods. Internal reliability, criterion validity and construct validity were examined among a sample of 325 female children living in Zambia. Sub-an...

Recent theoretical and empirical work has facilitated the drawing of sharp conceptual distinctions between shame and guilt. A clear view of these distinctions has permitted development of a research literature aimed at evaluating the differential associations of shame and guilt with depressive symptoms. This study quantitatively summarized the magnitude of associations of shame and guilt with d...

Like other self-conscious emotions, shame takes on particular significance during late childhood and adolescence because of a developing capacity for self-reflection, self-other comparisons, and sensitivity to the views of others. Shame is a potentially important variable in adolescent well-being given its established associations with depression, reduced feelings of self-worth, and problematic...