The Early Memories of Warmth and Safeness Scale for adolescents: Cross‐Sample Validation of the Complete and Brief Versions

Abstract

The Early Memories of Warmth and Safeness Scale (EMWSS), assessing early memories of warmth and safeness, was studied across community, referred for behavioural problems and detained Portuguese adolescent samples. A brief version of this instrument was also developed and studied in these same samples. Both versions of the EMWSS revealed a one-factor structure, good internal consistency and construct validity in relation to external variables; the brief version was also found to be invariant across gender and groups. Boys and girls were found to report similar levels of experienced warmth and safeness, whereas community boys reported significantly more of those experiences, followed by detained boys, and, lastly, referred boys. The brief version of the EMWSS represents a quick and valid measure to assess early memories of warmth and safeness in youth, providing for insights into the subjective experience of adolescents with diverse rearing experiences. Early memories of warmth and safeness, as assessed by the brief version of the EMWSS, may serve to advance knowledge on how early experiences impact on psychopathological outcomes in diverse youth samples.

Depression in Institutionalized Adolescents: The Role of Memories of Warmth and Safeness, Shame and Self-criticism

“…Depression in Institutionalized Adolescents 5 institutionalized adolescents and used the same instruments (Vagos et al, 2016). The EMWS showed a negative association with both variables, which is in line with previous studies showing the effect of adverse life experiences in the development of psychopathology (Irons et al, 2006;Richter et al, 2009).…”

“…The Early Memories of Warmth and Safeness Scale for Adolescentsbrief form (EMWSS-Abrief form, Vagos et al, 2016) is the short Portuguese version of the Early Memories of Warmth and Safeness Scale for Adolescents (EMWSS-A, Richter et al, 2009). It evaluates experiences of warmth and safeness in childhood through 9 items.…”

The Efficacy of a Compassion-Focused Therapy–Based Intervention in Reducing Psychopathic Traits and Disruptive Behavior: A Clinical Case Study With a Juvenile Detainee

“…From a CFT perspective, antisocial behavior patterns and psychopathic traits are conceptualized as evolutionary rooted responses to deal with harsh rearing scenarios (Ribeiro da Silva et al, 2015). In detail, if the human brain is evolutionarily designed to survive and thrive in adverse environments, when individuals are raised in hostile psychosocial backgrounds, as are most juvenile detainees, their brains also become calibrated for such environments (Abram et al, 2015; Vagos, Ribeiro da Silva, Brazão, & Rijo, 2018; Vagos, Ribeiro da Silva, Brazão, Rijo, & Gilbert, 2016, 2017). Thus, these youth tend to present an overdeveloped threat system, which functions mostly according to survival principles (e.g., “better safe than sorry”), as well as central emotional dysfunctions (e.g., Garofalo, Neumann, & Velotti, 2018; Kosson, Vitacco, Swogger, & Steuerwald, 2016).…”

An Evolutionary Model to Conceptualize Psychopathic Traits Across Community and Forensic Male Youth

“…Though there is limited and contradictory literature regarding associations between shame and psychopathic traits (see Ribeiro da Silva et al, 2015, for a review), as measured in the current work, we also anticipated to find positive and direct associations between external shame and psychopathic traits, given that we propose psychopathy to be associated with difficulties in regulating emotions, rather than on experiencing them. In addition, it is expected that the forensic sample would have increased levels of the impact harsh rearing experiences Vagos, Ribeiro da Silva, Brazão, Rijo, & Gilbert, 2017), external shame (Vagos, Ribeiro da Silva, Brazão, Rijo, & Gilbert, 2016), Avoidance and Attack Others shame coping strategies (Vagos et al, 2018), and psychopathic traits (Pechorro, Ribeiro Da Silva, Andershed, Rijo, & Gonçalves, 2017;Weidacker, O'Farrell, Gray, Johnston, & Snowden, 2017), when compared with the community sample. Finally, as there are no available research findings for comparisons, we would refrain from formulating hypothesis regarding potential differences in the pathways across samples.…”

“…Scale for Adolescents: Short Version EMWSSA:SV (Vagos et al, 2017) is a nine-item shorter version for adolescents of the original Early Memories of Warmth and Safeness Scale (Richter et al, 2009). The EMWSSA:SV is a self-report scale designed to measure one's recall of feeling warm, safe, and cared for in childhood; that is, how these memories impacted on the individual.…”