French adaptation of the Experience of Shame Scale: Validation in a French-Canadian sample.

Abstract

Shame is a painful emotion that emerges when one's self-image is threatened by feelings of being bad, worthless, weak, exposed, isolated, and unlovable. The present study aims to validate the international French adaptation of the Experience of Shame Scale (ESS), a self-report questionnaire assessing characterological, behavioral, and bodily shame by identifying eight areas of occurrence. A total of 314 French-Canadian adult participants completed online self-report questionnaires assessing psychological constructs relevant to shame assessment along with the ESS. The validation process explored: (a) internal consistency; (b) gender differences; (c) temporal reliability; (d) factor structure using Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling; (e) concurrent validity using the Test of Self-Conscious Affect 3; and (f) convergent-discriminant validity with self-report measures of pathological narcissism, borderline traits, depression, self-esteem, and guilt. Results show that the internal consistency and test-retest reliability for the whole questionnaire and its subscales were good to excellent. Factor structure did not replicate the original three-factor structure of the instrument, as the best fit indices were obtained for the eight-factor solution in which each factor corresponds to an area of occurrence of shame reported in the original version of the instrument. Expected correlations with external indices of convergentdiscriminant validity were found. Overall, results from the current study support the validity and reliability of the international French adaptation of the ESS in a French-Canadian sample. They also contribute to the ongoing debates regarding the nature and associations of shame with related constructs. Public Significance StatementShame is a construct that is relevant to research, clinical psychology, and psychotherapy. Consequently, it is of high importance to have access to well-validated instruments to assess shame in various contexts, including psychotherapy. This study provides a validated French version of the Experience of Shame Scale for researchers and clinicians.

Shame

“…The ESS (Andrews et al, 2002; French adaptation and validation by Théberge et al, 2021) is a 25-item questionnaire assessing three dimensions of shame-proneness (Characterological [α = .92], Behavioral [α = .90], and Bodily shame [α = .88]) each divided in a total of eight areas of occurrence of shame: (a) Personal habits (α = .83); (b) Manner with others (α = .81); (c) Sort of person (α = .83); (d) Personal ability (α = .83); (e) Doing something wrong (α = .77); (f) Saying something stupid (α = .83); (g) Failing competitively (α = .86); and (h) Bodily shame (α = .88). The aforementioned eight-factor solution was deemed optimal for the French ESS based on Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling fit indices (Théberge et al, 2021). The ESS total score was also used in the present study (α = .94).…”

“…Notably, Andrews and colleagues (2002) derived three broader dimensions of shame from interviews and ultimately developed a self-report measure assessing those dimensions: (a) characterological shame pertaining to dispositional characteristics of the individual (e.g., personal habits); (b) behavioral shame encompassing all kinds of situations in which the individual may have failed or done something wrong; and (c) bodily shame (i.e., the belief that the body or any of its parts may not be conform to a personal or societal standard). Andrews and colleagues (2002) also proposed eight specific areas (later validated by Théberge et al, 2021) considered as ramifications of the three broader dimensions in which an individual may feel shame: (a) Personal habits; (b) Manner with others; (c) Sort of person; (d) Personal ability; (e) Doing something wrong; (f) Saying something stupid; (g) Failing competitively; and (h) Bodily shame. From this viewpoint, shame is conceptualized as a blend of low self-worth and public exposure of one’s defects and weaknesses.…”

“…The ESS (Andrews et al, 2002; (Théberge et al, 2021). The ESS total score was also used in the present study (α = .94).…”

An Appraisal of Narcissistic Rage Through Path Modeling

“…Shame was measured using the Experience of Shame Scale (ESS; Andrews et al, 2002 ; French validation by Théberge et al, 2021 ), a 25-item questionnaire assessing shame proneness. Participants had to rate their shame experiences in a variety of areas of their life (e.g., their personal habits, following a failure, or their body image) on a 4-point Likert scale.…”

“…Indeed, narcissistic vulnerability was tied to shame feelings in theoretical (e.g., Kealy & Rasmussen, 2012 ) and empirical (e.g., Pincus et al., 2009 ; Poless et al, 2018 ) writings. The associations between narcissistic grandiosity and shame are, however, more controversial; in some studies (e.g., Poless et al, 2018 ), narcissistic grandiosity was negatively correlated with shame, whereas other studies (e.g., Pincus et al, 2009 ; Théberge et al, 2021 ) report positive—albeit weak to moderate—correlations between the two. Negative correlations reported in the literature between narcissistic grandiosity and shame are aligned with the theoretical assumption that grandiosity acts as a defense against shame feelings ( Tracy et al, 2011 ), and it seems that the valence of the correlations could be contingent upon the chosen measure of narcissism ( Di Sarno et al., 2020 ).…”