Psychometric properties of the German version of the Forms of Self-Criticizing/Attacking and Self-Reassuring Scale (FSCRS).

Abstract

Self-criticism is significantly associated with a variety of mental health difficulties affecting vulnerability, presentation, progress, and recovery. In contrast, self-reassurance is associated with good mental health, psychological well-being, and beneficial physiological processes. The 22-item Forms of Self-Criticizing/Attacking and Self-Reassuring Scale (FSCRS) is an internationally used self-report questionnaire for measuring manifestation and changes in different types of self-criticism and self-reassurance. It has been shown to be a valid and reliable measure in clinical and nonclinical samples. In the present study, a German translation of the FSCRS and its 3 subscales (hated self, inadequate self, reassured self) was provided, and the factor structure and psychometric properties were examined in 415 participants from 4 different population samples: (a) a sample from the general population, (b) a sample of psychiatric residential and outpatients, (c) a clinical sample of residential and outpatients with a primary diagnosis of borderline personality disorder (BPD), and (d) a sample of healthy control participants. Results from confirmatory factor analysis favored a 3-factor solution of the German FSCRS. Furthermore, findings indicate that the German version of the FSCRS and its subscales had good to excellent internal consistencies. Convergent validity was good for all 3 subscales as shown by medium to large correlations with established measures of self-criticism, self-compassion, self-esteem, satisfaction with life, symptoms of depression and anxiety, and secure attachment styles. Additionally, the 3 FSCRS subscales discriminated significantly between the clinical and nonclinical samples, with the BPD sample demonstrating significantly higher levels than the other samples on the hated self subscale.

Childhood maltreatment and self‐hatred as distinguishing characteristics of psychiatric patients with self‐harm: A comparison with clinical and healthy controls

“…Recently, Halamová et al ( 2018 ) suggested a two‐factor model based on reviewing and analysing data from previous studies that used FSCRS, in particular for community samples. It is not clear, however, which of the two models are best suited for clinical samples (Biermann et al, 2021 ). We chose to use the original three factor version, since the dimension FSCRS‐Hated self, which is likely to be the most clinically relevant one, is missing in the two‐factor model.…”

Assessing self-criticism and self-reassurance: Examining psychometric properties and clinical usefulness of the Short-Form of the Forms of Self-Criticizing/Attacking & Self-Reassuring Scale (FSCRS-SF) in Spanish sample

“…This result supports the previous findings of Sommers-Spijkerman et al [ 52 ] regarding the three-factor solution and rationale of the cognitive-evolutionary model [ 68 ]. In addition, the three-dimensional model provides a better fit than the unidimensional and bifactorial ones according to the results of the confirmatory factor analyses of the FSCRS in clinical and non-clinical samples [ 44 , 45 , 48 , 69 – 71 ]. This is in contrast with a large intercultural study which has shown that a two-factor model of RS and SC (combining IS and HS) had a superior fit, although the three-factor one was acceptable too [ 46 ].…”

“…Furthermore, BPD and ED patients showed significant higher SC and lower RS levels than non-clinical participants, thus indicating that the FSCRS-SF is able to discriminate between clinical groups that are known to differ in these two variables. A range of disorders, which include BPD and ED, are associated with high SC and low RS [ 69 ], though further studies are needed to describe mechanisms through which SC works in these pathologies [ 6 ]. In the case of BPD, SC and self-invalidation [ 78 ] are terms that, without having the exact same meaning, have huge overlap.…”

Feasibility and efficacy of an online compassion‐focused imagery intervention for veterinarian self‐reassurance, self‐criticism and perfectionism

“…The hated‐self is proposed to focus on aggressive self‐persecution to remove undesirable aspects of the self, while the inadequate‐self is proposed to dwell on inadequacies to self‐correct 33 . Both forms of self‐criticism negatively correlate with self‐esteem and life satisfaction and discriminate between clinical and non‐clinical populations 34,35 …”