Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T05:02:02.441Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Examining the Factor Structure and Psychometric Properties of a Guilt Management Scale (GMS)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 June 2018

Katy McIvor Open the ORCID record for Katy McIvor [Opens in a new window] ,
Amy Degnan ,
Lauren Pugh ,
Laura Bettney ,
Richard Emsley  and
Katherine Berry
Katy McIvor*
Affiliation:
Neuropsychology Department, Walton Centre, Lower Lane, Liverpool L9 7AL
Amy Degnan
Affiliation:
School of Psychological Sciences, University of Manchester, 2nd Floor Zochonis Building, Brunswick Street, Manchester M13 9PL
Lauren Pugh
Affiliation:
Salford Primary Care Psychology Service, The Bridge Water Suite, St James’ House, Pendleton Way, Salford M6 5FW
Laura Bettney
Affiliation:
Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust, Summer's View, Furlong Road, Tunstall, Stoke-on-Trent
Richard Emsley
Affiliation:
Centre for Biostatistics Institute of Population Health – The University of Manchester, 4.304 Jean McFarlane Building, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL
Katherine Berry
Affiliation:
School of Psychological Sciences, University of Manchester, 2nd Floor Zochonis Building, Brunswick Street, Manchester M13 9PL
*
Correspondence to Katy McIvor, Neuropsychology Department, Walton Centre, Lower Lane, Liverpool L9 7AL. E-mail: katherine.mcivor@thewaltoncentre.nhs.uk
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Background: Guilt is commonly associated with distress and psychopathology. However, there is a lack of validated measures that assess how people cope with this aversive emotional and cognitive experience. Aims: We therefore developed and validated a self-report measure that assesses how people manage their guilt: the Guilt Management Scale (GMS). Method: The GMS was administered to a non-clinical (n = 339) and clinical (n = 67) sample, alongside other validated measures of guilt severity, coping, thought control and psychological distress. Results from a principal component analysis (PCA) and assessments of test–retest reliability and internal consistency are presented. Results: The PCA yielded a six subscale solution (Self-Punishment, Reparation, People-Focused, Spirituality, Avoidance and Metacognition), accounting for 56.14% of variance. Test–retest reliability and internal consistency was found to be good–excellent for the majority of subscales. Across samples, Self-Punishment was related to higher levels of guilt and distress whilst Metacognition and Reparation were related to less guilt and distress in the non-clinical sample only. Conclusions: This paper provides preliminary evidence for the psychometric properties of the GMS in a non-clinical sample. With development and validation in clinical samples, the GMS could be used to inform psychological formulations of guilt and assess therapy outcomes.

Keywords

guiltdistresscopingprincipal component analysispsychometric
Type
Research Article
Information
Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy , Volume 47 , Issue 2 , March 2019 , pp. 181 - 199
Copyright
Copyright © British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ano, G. G. and Vasconcelles, E. B. (2005). Religious coping and psychological adjustment to stress: a meta-analysis. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 61, 461–480. doi: 10.1002/jclp.20049Google Scholar
Aldao, A., Nolen-Hoeksema, S. and Schweizer, S. (2010). Emotion-regulation strategies across psychopathology: a meta-analytic review. Clinical Psychology Review, 30, 217–237. doi: 10.1016/j.cpr.2009.11.004Google Scholar
Batlett, M. S. (1950). Test of significance in factor analysis. British Journal of Mathematical and Statistical Psychology, 3, 77–85.Google Scholar
Broderick, P. C. (2005). Mindfulness and coping with dysphoric mood: contrasts with rumination and distraction. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 29, 501–510. doi: 10.1007/s10608-005-3888-0Google Scholar
Calmes, C. A. and Roberts, J. E. (2007). Repetitive thought and emotional distress: Rumination and worry as prospective predictors of depressive and anxious symptomatology. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 31, 343–356. doi: 10.1007/s10608-006-9026-9.Google Scholar
Carver, C. S. (1997). You want to measure coping but your protocol's too long: consider the brief cope. International Journal of Behavioural Medicine, 4, 92–100. doi: 10.1207/s15327558ijbm0401_6Google Scholar
Carver, C. S., Scheier, M. F. and Weintraub, J. K. (1989). Assessing coping strategies: a theoretically based approach. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 56, 267. doi: 10.1037/0022-6514.56.2.267Google Scholar
Cattell, R. B. (1966). The screen test for the number of factors. Multivariate Behavioural Research, 1, 245–276. doi: 10.1207/s15327906mbr0102_10Google Scholar
Chapman, A. L., Gratz, K. L. and Brown, M. Z. (2006). Solving the puzzle of deliberate self-harm: the experiential avoidance model. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 44, 371–394. doi: 10.1016/j.brat.2005.03.005Google Scholar
Cohen, T. R., Wolf, S. T., Panter, A. T. and Insko, C. A. (2011). Introducing the GASP scale: a new measure of guilt and shame proneness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 100, 947. doi: 10.1037/a0022641Google Scholar
Connell, J. and Barkham, M. (2007). CORE-10 User Manual, version 1.1. UK: CORE System Trust and CORE Information Management Systems Ltd.Google Scholar
Cooper, C., Katona, C. and Livingston, G. (2008). Validity and reliability of the brief COPE in carers of people with dementia: the LASER-AD Study. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 196, 838–843. doi: 10.1097/NMD.0b013e31818b504cGoogle Scholar
De Von, H. A., Block, M. E., Moyle-Wright, P., Ernst, D. M., Hayden, S. J., Lazzara, D. J. et al. (2007). A psychometric toolbox for testing validity and reliability. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 39, 155–164.Google Scholar
Fabrigar, L. R., Wegener, D. T., MacCallum, R. C. and Strahan, E. J. (1999). Evaluating the use of exploratory factor analysis in psychological research. Psychological Methods, 4, 272–299.Google Scholar
Field, A. P. (2005). Discovering Statistics Using SPSS. London: Sage.Google Scholar
Floyd, F. J. and Widaman, K. F. (1995). Factor analysis in the development and refinement of clinical assessment instruments. Psychological Assessment, 7, 286. doi: 10.1037/1040-3590.7. 3.286Google Scholar
Fontaine, J. R., Luyten, P., De Boeck, P., Corveleyn, J., Fernandez, M., Herrera, D., Ittzés, A. and Tomcsányi, T. (2006). Untying the Gordian Knot of guilt and shame: the structure of guilt and shame reactions based on situation and person variation in Belgium, Hungary and Peru. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 37, 273–292. doi: 10.1177/0022022105284493Google Scholar
Hackney, C. H. and Sanders, G. S. (2003). Religiosity and mental health: a meta-analysis of recent studies. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 42, 43–55. doi: 10.1111/1468-5906.t01-1-00160Google Scholar
Haynes, S. N., Richard, D. C. S. and Kubany, E. S. (1995). Content validity in psychological assessment: a functional approach to concepts and methods. Psychological Assessment, 7, 238–247. doi: 10.1037/1040-3590.7.3.238Google Scholar
Held, P., Owens, G. P., Schumm, J. A., Chard, K. M. and Hansel, J. E. (2011). Disengagement coping as a mediator between trauma-related guilt and PTSD severity. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 24 (6), 708–715. doi: 10.1002/jts.20689Google Scholar
Hoffman, M. L. (1982). Affect and moral development. New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development, 16, 83–103. doi: 10.1002/cd.23219821605Google Scholar
Jones, W. H., Schratter, A. K. and Kugler, K. (2000). The Guilt Inventory. Psychological Reports, 87, 1039–1042. doi: 10.2466/PR0.87.7.1039-1042Google Scholar
Kaiser, H. F. (1974). An index of factorial simplicity. Psychometrika, 39, 31–36.Google Scholar
Klass, E. T. (1987). Situational approach to assessment of guilt: development and validation of a self-report measure. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 9, 35–48. doi: 10.1007/BF00961630Google Scholar
Koenig, H. G., McCullough, M. E. and Larson, D. B. (2001). Handbook of Religion and Health. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1097/00019442-200405000-00015Google Scholar
Kraut, R., Olson, J., Banaji, M., Bruckman, A., Cohen, J. and Couper, M. (2004). Psychological research online: report of Board of Scientific Affairs’ Advisory Group on the Conduct of Research on the Internet. American Psychologist, 59, 105. doi: 10.1037/0003-066X.59.2.105Google Scholar
Kugler, K. and Jones, W. H. (1992). On conceptualizing and assessing guilt. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 62, 318. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.62.2.318Google Scholar
Lutwak, N., Panish, J. B., Ferrari, J. R. and Razzino, B. E. (2001). Shame and guilt and their relationship to positive expectations and anger expressiveness. Adolescence, 36, 641.Google Scholar
Lynn, M. R. (1986). Determination and quantification of content validity. Nursing Research, 35, 382–386. doi: 10.1097/00006199-198611000-00017Google Scholar
Malti, T. (2016). Toward an integrated clinical-developmental model of guilt. Developmental Review, 39, 16–36.Google Scholar
Marcks, B. A. and Woods, D. W. (2005). A comparison of thought suppression to an acceptance-based technique in the management of personal intrusive thoughts: a controlled evaluation. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 43, 433–445. doi: 10.1016/j.brat.2004.03.005Google Scholar
Meyer, B. (2001). Coping with severe mental illness: relations of the Brief-COPE with symptoms, functioning, and well-being. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 23, 265–277. doi: 10.1023/A:1012731520781Google Scholar
Miceli, M. and Castelfranchi, C. (1998). How to silence one's conscience: cognitive defences against the feeling of guilt. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 28, 287–318.Google Scholar
Nelissen, R. and Zeelenberg, M. (2009). When guilt evokes self-punishment: evidence for the existence of a Dobby Effect. Emotion, 9, 118. doi: 10.1037/a0014540.Google Scholar
Normann, N., Emmerik, A. A. and Morina, N. (2014). The efficacy of metacognitive therapy for anxiety and depression: a meta-analytic review. Depression and Anxiety, 31, 402–411. doi: 10.1002/da.22273Google Scholar
Nolen-Hoeksema, S. and Morrow, J. (1993). Effects of rumination and distraction on naturally occurring depressed mood. Cognition and Emotion, 7, 561–570. doi: 10.1080/02699939308409206Google Scholar
Nolen-Hoeksema, S., Stice, E., Wade, E. and Bohon, C. (2007). Reciprocal relations between rumination and bulimic, substance abuse, and depressive symptoms in female adolescents. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 116, 198. doi: 10.1037/0021-843X.116.1.198Google Scholar
Pargament, K. I. (1997). The Psychology of Religion and Coping: Theory, Research, and Practice. New York, NY: Guilford Press. doi: 10.2307/3512468Google Scholar
Reynolds, M. and Wells, A. (1999). The Thought Control Questionnaire – psychometric properties in a clinical sample, and relationships with PTSD and depression. Psychological Medicine, 29, 1089–1099. doi: 10.1017/S003329179900104XGoogle Scholar
Roussis, P. and Wells, A. (2008). Psychological factors predicting stress symptoms: metacognition, thought control, and varieties of worry. Anxiety, Stress and Coping, 21, 213–225. doi: 10.1080/10615800801889600Google Scholar
Salkovskis, P. M. and Campbell, P. (1994). Thought suppression induces intrusion in naturally occurring negative intrusive thoughts. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 32, 1–8. doi: 10.1016/0005-7967(94)90077-9Google Scholar
Silfver, M. (2007). Coping with guilt and shame: a narrative approach. Journal of Moral Education, 36, 169–183.Google Scholar
Stevens, J. (1992). Applied Multivariate Statistics for the Social Sciences (2nd edition). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Tangney, J. P. (1990). Assessing individual differences in proneness to shame and guilt: development of the Self-Conscious Affect and Attribution Inventory. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 59, 102. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.59.1.102Google Scholar
Tangney, J. P., Stuewig, J. and Mashek, D. J. (2007). Moral emotions and moral behaviour. Annual Review of Psychology, 58, 345–372.Google Scholar
Tangney, J. P., Wagner, P. and Gramzow, R. (1989). The Test of Self-Conscious Affect. Fairfax‚ VA: George Mason University.Google Scholar
Tharaldsen, K. B. and Bru, E. (2012). Evaluating the Mindfulness-based Coping Program: an effectiveness study using a mixed model approach. Mental Illness, 4, e11. doi.org/10.4081/mi.2012.e11Google Scholar
Thoits, P. A. (1995). Stress, coping, and social support processes: Where are we? What next? Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 35, 53–79. doi: 10.2307/2626957Google Scholar
Tilghman-Osborne, C., Cole, D. A. and Felton, J. W. (2010). Definition and measurement of guilt: Implications for clinical research and practice. Clinical Psychology Review, 30, 536–546. doi: 10.1016/j.cpr.2010.03.007Google Scholar
Velicer, W. F. and Jackson, D. N. (1990). Component analysis versus common factor analysis: some further observations. Multivariate Behavioural Research, 25, 97–114.Google Scholar
Walinga, P., Corveleyn, J. and van Saane, J. (2005). Guilt and religion: the influence of orthodox Protestant and orthodox Catholic conceptions of guilt on guilt-experience. Archive for the Psychology of Religion, 27, 113–136. doi: 10.1163/008467206774355330Google Scholar
Warda, G. and Bryant, R. A. (1998). Thought control strategies in acute stress disorder. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 36, 1171–1175. doi: 10.1016/S0005-7967(98)00082-5Google Scholar
Wells, A. and Carter, K. E. (2009). Maladaptive thought control strategies in generalized anxiety disorder, major depressive disorder, and nonpatient groups and relationships with trait anxiety. International Journal of Cognitive Therapy, 2, 224–234. doi: 10.1521/ijct.2009.2.3.224Google Scholar
Wells, A. and Davies, M. I. (1994). The Thought Control Questionnaire: a measure of individual differences in the control of unwanted thoughts. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 32, 871–878. doi: 10.1016/0005-7967(94)90168-6Google Scholar
Wells, A. and Matthews, G. (1994). Attention and Emotion: A Clinical Perspective. Hove, UK: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Wilson, J. P., Droždek, B. and Turkovic, S. (2006). Post-traumatic shame and guilt. Trauma, Violence and Abuse, 7, 122–141. doi: 10.1177/1524838005285914Google Scholar
Wong, Y. and Tsai, J. (2007). Cultural models of shame and guilt. In Tracey, J. L., Robins, R. W. and Tangney, J. P. (eds.), The Self-Conscious Emotions Theory and Research (pp. 209–223). New York, NY: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Yusoff, N., Low, W. Y. and Yip, C. H. (2010). Reliability and validity of the Brief-COPE Scale (English version) among women with breast cancer undergoing treatment of adjuvant chemotherapy: a Malaysian study. Medical Journal of Malaysia, 65, 41–44.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

McIvor et al. supplementary material

McIvor et al. supplementary material 1

Download McIvor et al. supplementary material(File)
File 18.5 KB
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.