Perceptions of childhood experiences and characteristics of shame in adults

Authors

  • Maria Levintsova St. Petersburg State University, 7–9, Universitetskaya nab., St. Petersburg, 199034, Russian Federation https://orcid.org/0009-0008-4280-3561
  • Natalya Pleshkova St. Petersburg State University, 7–9, Universitetskaya nab., St. Petersburg, 199034, Russian Federation

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21638/spbu16.2023.407

Abstract

Shame tends to motivate social approach to restore the threatened self. If this seems impossible, however, shame activates social withdrawal. Though it is unclear why one can underestimate the possibility of repairing their threatened self, research suggests the role of adverse childhood experiences. People with such experiences report shame memories that have traumatic memory characteristics such as intrusions, avoidance and hyperarousal, which are associated with feelings of helplessness and alienation in the face of danger. Therefore, social withdrawal following shame could be associated with higher posttraumatic stress in response to shame experiences. The aim of the study was to examine the link between perceptions of childhood experiences and proneness to shame in adults. The sample included 73 participants (60 females, 13 males), M=23. Perceptions of childhood experiences were measured using the Juvenile Victimization Questionnaire. The Impact of Event Scale, the Guilt and Shame Proneness Scale and a modified procedure for assessing shame-induced behavior (de Hooge et al.) were used to measure characteristics of shame. We used comparative, factorial and multiple regression analyses. The childhood experiences of emotional bullying, physical assault, and sexual abuse related to neglect are associated with higher posttraumatic stress in response to shame experiences in adults. The participants with higher posttraumatic stress report a greater tendency to avoid social interactions when feeling shame. Childhood adversity can contribute to higher posttraumatic stress in response to shame experiences. As a result, one has lower expectations of social support and tends to avoid social interactions when feeling shame.

Keywords:

shame, adverse childhood experiences, social withdrawal, posttraumatic stress

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Author Biographies

Maria Levintsova, St. Petersburg State University, 7–9, Universitetskaya nab., St. Petersburg, 199034, Russian Federation

Master’s in Psychology

Natalya Pleshkova, St. Petersburg State University, 7–9, Universitetskaya nab., St. Petersburg, 199034, Russian Federation

PhD in Psychology, Assosiate professor at the Division of Child and Parent Mental Health and Early Intervention

References

Литература

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Tangney J., Burggraf S., Wagner P. Shame-proneness, guilt-proneness and psychopathological symptoms // Self-conscious Emotions: The Psychology of Shame, guilt, embarrassment and pride / J. Tangney, K. Fischer (eds). New York: Guilford, 1995. P. 343–368.

Tangney J. P., Miller R. S., Flicker L., Barlow D. H. Are shame, guilt and embarrassment distinct emotions? // Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 1996. Vol. 70 (6). P. 1256–1269. https://doi.org/10.1037//0022-3514.70.6.1256

Tracy J. L., Robins R. W. Appraisal antecedents of shame and guilt: Support for a theoretical model // Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. 2006. Vol. 32 (10). P. 1339–1351. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167206290212

Weiss D. S., Marmar C. R. The Impact of Event Scale — Revised // Assessing psychological trauma and PTSD / J. P. Wilson, T. M. Keane (eds). New York: The Guilford Press, 1997. P. 399–411.

Zhu R., Xu Z., Tang H., Liu J., Wang H., An Y., Mai X., Liu C. The effect of shame on anger at others: Awareness of the emotion-causing events matters. Cognition & Emotion. 2019. Vol. 33 (4). P. 696–708. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2018.1489782


References

Arseneault, L. (2018). Annual research review: The persistent and pervasive impact of being bullied in childhood and adolescence: Implications for policy and practice. Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines, 59 (4), 405–421. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.12841

Bogolyubova, O. N., Kiseleva, E. V. (2015). Adverse childhood experiences and psychological and psycho-physiological aspects of experiencing shame. Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. Ser. 12. Psychology. Sociology. Education, 2, 30–44. (In Russian)

Bogolyubova, O., Skochilov, R., Smykalo, L. (2015). Childhood victimization experiences of young adults in St. Petersburg, Russia. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 30 (7), 1153–1167. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260514539849

Budden, A. (2009). The role of shame in posttraumatic stress disorder: A proposal for a socio-emotional model for DSM-V. Social Science & Medicine, 69 (7), 1032–1039. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2009.07.032

Cândea, D. M., Szentagotai-Tătar, A. (2018). Shame-proneness, guilt-proneness and anxiety symptoms: A meta-analysis. Journal of anxiety disorders, 58, 78–106. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.janxdis.2018.07.005

Cohen, T. R., Wolf, S. T., Panter, A. T., Insko, C. A. (2011). Introducing the GASP scale: A new measure of guilt and shame proneness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 100 (5), 947–966. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0022641

De Hooge, I. E., Breugelmans, S. M., Wagemans, F. M. A., Zeelenberg, M. (2018). The social side of shame: Approach versus withdrawal. Cognition & Emotion, 32 (8), 1671–1677. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2017.1422696

De Hooge, I. E., Breugelmans, S. M., Zeelenberg, M. (2008). Not so ugly after all: When shame acts as a commitment device. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 95 (4), 933–943. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0011991

De Hooge, I. E., Zeelenberg, M., Breugelmans, S. M. (2011). A functionalist account of shame-induced behaviour. Cognition & Emotion, 25 (5), 939–946. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2010.516909

Ehlers, A., Clark, D. M. (2000). A cognitive model of posttraumatic stress disorder. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 38 (4), 319–345. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0005-7967(99)00123-0

Ekman, P. (1992). An argument for basic emotions. Cognition and Emotion, 6 (3–4), 169–200. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699939208411068

Hamby, S. L., Finkelhor, D., Ormrod, R., Turner, H. (2005). The Juvenile Victimization Questionnaire (JVQ): Administration and scoring manual. Durham, Crimes Against Children Research Center.

Hart, D., Karmel, M. P. (1996). Self-awareness and self-knowledge in humans, apes, and monkeys. In: A. E. Russon, K. A. Bard, S. T. Parker (eds). Reaching into Thought: The minds of the great apes (pp. 325–347). Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.

Kealy, D., Rice, S. M., Ogrodniczuk, J. S., Spidel, A. (2018). Childhood trauma and somatic symptoms among psychiatric outpatients: Investigating the role of shame and guilt. Psychiatry research, 268, 169–174. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2018.06.072

Keltner, D., Buswell, B. N. (1997). Embarrassment: Its distinct form and appeasement functions. Psychological Bulletin, 122 (3), 250–270. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.122.3.250

Makogon, I. K., Enikolopov, S. N. (2014). A Technique for measuring inclination to experiencing guilt and shame. Voprosy Psikhologii, 4, 118–125. (In Russian)

Matos, M., Pinto-Gouveia, J. (2010). Shame as a traumatic memory. Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy, 17 (4), 299–312. https://doi.org/10.1002/cpp.659

McLaughlin, K. A., Conron, K. J., Koenen, K. C., Gilman, S. E. (2010). Childhood adversity, adult stressful life events, and risk of past-year psychiatric disorder: A test of the stress sensitization hypothesis in a population-based sample of adults. Psychological medicine, 40 (10), 1647–1658. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291709992121

Muris, P., Meesters, C. (2014). Small or big in the eyes of the other: on the developmental psychopathology of self-conscious emotions as shame, guilt, and pride. Clinical child and family psychology review, 17 (1), 19–40. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10567-013-0137-z

Naramore, R., Bright, M. A., Epps, N., Hardt, N. S. (2017). Youth arrested for trading sex have the highest rates of childhood adversity: A statewide study of juvenile offenders. Sexual Abuse: A journal of research and treatment, 29 (4), 396–410. https://doi.org/10.1177/1079063215603064

Olatunji, B. O., Cox, R., Kim, E. H. (2015). Self-disgust mediates the associations between shame and symptoms of bulimia and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 34 (3), 239–258. https://doi.org/10.1521/jscp.2015.34.3.239

Robertson, T. E., Sznycer, D., Delton, A. W., Tooby, J., Cosmides, L. (2018). The true trigger of shame: Social devaluation is sufficient, wrongdoing is unnecessary. Evolution and Human Behavior, 39 (5), 566–573. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2018.05.010

Roseman, I. J., Wiest, C., Swartz, T. S. (1994). Phenomenology, behaviors, and goals differentiate discrete emotions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67 (2), 206–221. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.67.2.206

Sznycer, D. (2019). Forms and functions of the self-conscious emotions. Trends in Cognitive Science, 23 (2), 143–157. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2018.11.007

Sznycer, D., Tooby, J., Cosmides, L., Porat, R., Shalvi, S., Halperin, E. (2016). Shame closely tracks the threat of devaluation by others, even across cultures. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 113 (10), 2625–2630. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1514699113

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 (1), 102–111. https://doi.org/10.1037//0022-3514.59.1.102

Tangney, J., Burggraf, S., Wagner, P. (1995). Shame-proneness, guilt-proneness and psychopathological symptoms. In: J. Tangney, K. Fischer (eds). Self-Conscious Emotions: The Psychology of Shame, Guilt, Embarrassment and pride (pp. 343–368). New York, Guilford Press.

Tangney, J. P., Miller, R. S., Flicker, L., Barlow, D. H. (1996). Are shame, guilt, and embarrassment distinct emotions? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 70 (6), 1256–1269. https://doi.org/10.1037//0022-3514.70.6.1256

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Tracy, J. L., Robins, R. W. (2006). Appraisal antecedents of shame and guilt: support for a theoretical model. Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin, 32 (10), 1339–1351. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167206290212

Weiss, D. S., Marmar, C. R. (1997). The Impact of Event Scale — Revised. In: J. P. Wilson, T. M. Keane (eds). Assessing Psychological Trauma and PTSD (pp. 399–411). The Guilford Press.

Zhu, R., Xu, Z., Tang, H., Liu, J., Wang, H., An, Y., Mai, X., Liu, C. (2019). The effect of shame on anger at others: Awareness of the emotion-causing events matters. Cognition & Emotion, 33 (4), 696–708. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2018.1489782

Published

2023-12-16

How to Cite

Levintsova, M., & Pleshkova, N. (2023). Perceptions of childhood experiences and characteristics of shame in adults. Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. Psychology, 13(4), 537–551. https://doi.org/10.21638/spbu16.2023.407

Issue

Section

Empirical and Experimental Research