Abstract

This study examined psychopathological correlates of implicit and explicit shame and guilt in 30 clinical and 129 non-clinical youths aged 8–17 years. Shame and guilt were measured explicitly via two self-reports and a parent report, and implicitly by means of an Implicit Association Test (IAT), while a wide range of psychopathological symptoms were assessed with questionnaires completed by children, parents, and teachers. The results showed no differences of implicit and explicit shame and guilt between the clinical and non-clinical group, implying that dysregulation of these self-conscious emotions is not per definition associated with psychopathology. Correlational analyses indicated that self-reported explicit shame was positively associated with a broad range of internalizing psychopathology, while self-reported explicit guilt was associated with higher levels of anxiety and to some extent lower levels of externalizing psychopathology. Correlations with parent-rated shame and guilt revealed the same pattern of results but were in general weaker. Furthermore, implicit shame and guilt did not show significant correlations with the various measures of psychopathology. It can be concluded that the link between shame and guilt and psychopathology is complex, and partly dependent on the disorder under study and context-related factors defining the maladaptive nature of these self-conscious emotions.

Highlights

  • The self-conscious emotions of shame and guilt drive people to behave in morally and socially appropriate ways

  • Shame is typically characterized by a negative evaluation of the self and prompts the person to show defensive and avoidance behavior, Shame, Guilt, and Psychopathology whereas guilt is more concerned with a negative evaluation of specific behavior and motivates the person to engage in reparative behavior by making apologies and engaging in attempts to correct the situation (Muris and Meesters, 2014)

  • Borderline personality features as measured by the BPFSC-11 were positively associated with age (r = 0.16, p < 0.05), indicating that with increasing age borderline personality features tended to become more prominent

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Summary

Introduction

The self-conscious emotions of shame and guilt drive people to behave in morally and socially appropriate ways. Feelings of shame are more linked to discontentment with oneself and prompt a person to show submissive behavior, while feelings of guilt are more related to regrets about wrongdoing in a specific situation and motivate the individual to show more restorative behavior. Both emotions are normal phenomena that that help a person to maneuver effectively in social life. If shame and guilt are not or insufficiently elicited after making a moral or social transgression, it is likely that the person does not show any corrective or reparative behavior, which can be interpreted as social insensitivity and can cause interpersonal problems

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