Perceptions of childhood experiences and characteristics of shame in adults
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21638/spbu16.2023.407Abstract
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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Литература
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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
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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
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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
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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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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
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Published
2023-12-16
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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
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Empirical and Experimental Research
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Articles of "Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. Psychology" are open access distributed under the terms of the License Agreement with Saint Petersburg State University, which permits to the authors unrestricted distribution and self-archiving free of charge.
