Factor structure of the silencing the self scale in women and men

Abstract

The present study compared the underlying factor structure of the 31-item Silencing the Self Scale between 227 male and 598 female college students. Because the scale designers argued the measure assessed self-repressive schemas found in women only, the hypothesized 4-factor solution should not be replicable for male respondents. Confirmatory factor analyses failed to verify any of the three 4-factor oblique models (two complete and one reduced), but subsequent exploratory analyses uncovered a 4-factor solution for females (excluding 2 items) and a 3-factor solution for males (excluding 4 items). There was sufficient overlap between solutions to believe males were utilizing a comparable self-silencing schema. That is, the solutions were reasonably identical but for two factors identified in the female sample (viz. Divided Self and External Self-Perception) that collapsed into a single factor in the male sample. Means analysis showed that for the original subscale scores, males scored significantly higher on three of the four subscales. The psychometric profile of the Self-Silencing Scale is then reviewed, and directions for future research are explored.