Two studies are reported. First, we tested the previously validated Personal Feelings Questionnaire-2 (PFQ2; Harder & Zalma, 1990) shame and guilt measure and the Adapted Shame and Guilt Scale (ASGS; Hoblitzelle, 1982) Shame subscale against the newly introduced Self-Conscious Affect and Attribution Inventory (SCAAI; Tangney, 1990) for shame and guilt dispositions. Fifty-nine college undergraduates completed randomly ordered personality inventories reflecting constructs theoretically relevant to the presence of shame and guilt proneness. Correlations between the affect measures and personality variables showed evidence of validity for all shame scales. The PFQ2 Guilt subscale also demonstrated construct validity when partialled for shame, but the SCAAI did not. Second, we tested hypotheses regarding the relative importance of shame and guilt to various symptom types (Symptom Checklist-90-Revised; Derogatis, 1983) using 71 college undergraduates. Both emotions were approximately equally related to all major symptom clusters, but there was some evidence for differential patterns of relative importance for shame and guilt to different symptoms.

40 college students filled out six questionnaires, three of which assessed their personality traits. On the others participants provided retrospective reports of their parents' use of various disciplinary practices. Scores on the personality dimensions were correlated with the disciplinary variables. The hypothesis that perceived frequent parental use of punishing techniques would be associated with less desirable personality traits of offspring was confirmed. Results for fathers supported the hypothesis that parental use of rewards would be related to positive personality traits in offspring. For mothers, only the results regarding verbal reward were consistent with this hypothesis. Frequent maternal use of material reward and high scores for over-all use of reward were significantly related to anxiety and low self-esteem in offspring.

The present study sought to provide additional evidence for the construct validity of the Harder (Harder & Zalma, 1990) Personal Feelings Questionnaire-2 (PFQ2), a recently revised measure of shame and guilt proneness. Seventy university students, 35 male and 35 female, completed the PFQ2 and scales that assess self-derogation, instability of self-concept, shyness, social anxiety, public self-consciousness, private self-consciousness, and locus of control. The correlational results were generally consistent with validity predictions. As in previous studies, however, the discriminant validity of the shame and guilt scales was supported, but not strongly.

Wright, O'Leary, and Balkin (1989) have laudably used an empirical approach to increase our understanding of the roles played by shame, guilt, and sex differences in depression and narcissism. However, the lack of construct validity for the guilt scale they used seriously compromises some of their conclusions. At variance with those conclusions, other studies suggest that guilt may not be less involved in depression than shame and that guilt, like shame, may be more common among women than men. Possible dynamics underlying this difference are proposed. Wright et al. also reported that men show more narcissism than women, but it is argued here that such a difference may be overstated. Theoretical implications of these findings and hypotheses are raised. Finally, clinical implications for treatment of shame-prone patients are discussed.

A large body of clinical literature would imply that life events in the sexual sphere are of major significance for schizophrenic patients. However, the best known reports of life events associated with the onset of schizophrenia do not seem to support the significance of life events in the sexual sphere in the onset, early course, or exacerbation of schizophrenia. Methodologically, however, these studies have focused on the precipitating event, rather than on the amount of life stress induced by the serial occurrence of life events. This suggests the possibility that if life events in schizophrenic patients are examined in their totality, conclusions as to the relationship between sexual life events and schizophrenia might be different. As part of an international collaborative study twenty subjects receiving an ICD-9 diagnosis of schizophrenia, hospitalized for the first time in their lives for functional psychiatric disorder, were evaluated on the basis of a structured interview to assess symptoms and psychiatric history, including life events. Almost half (920) of these schizophrenic patients were found to have experienced life events occurring in the sexual sphere. At the customary P < .05 level of significance, the presence of life events in the sexual sphere was independent of gender, marital status, and race, as well as age. If sexual sphere events were to be excluded completely from the ratings, 18 of 20 would still have had ratable life events. These data suggest the importance of relating specific categories of events to specific subject characteristics or to specific populations. They also point to the importance of life events in the sexual sphere as stressors for first-admission schizophrenic patients. Difficulties in more fully understanding the importance of life events in the sexual sphere can be approached via both a social model entailing prohibition of communication, and a psychopathological model involving the nature of the schizophrenic or preschizophrenic psychological processes.

To assess the effects of negatively valued items on the concept of androgyny and its relationship with self-esteem, negative items were constructed to parallel the positively valued masculine and feminine items in the Bern Sex-role Inventory and validated for equivalent gender association. These items were added to the original positive items and the revised scale was administered with a self-derogation scale to 27 male and 26 female college students. Analysis showed strong relationships between self-derogation and negative traits for men and weaker, but expected relationships between self-derogation and negative traits for women. Bern's “undifferentiated” category of respondents, those individuals who endorsed few masculine and feminine traits, were redistributed when negative items were added to the scale. The authors conclude that individuals may exist who are androgynous in that they endorse both masculine and feminine traits but who were formerly classed as undifferentiated because low self-esteem restricted them from endorsing positive items. Implications for further research and redefining the concept of androgyny, especially as it applies to undifferentiated individuals, are discussed.

AbstractThe Urist Rorschach Mutuality of Autonomy Scale (MAS), which assesses development along a self-object differentiation and mutuality dimension, has shown considerable promise as an index of interpersonal relationship capacities. As such, MAS scores were predicted to correlate significantly with three measures of psychological pathology/health. The reliability of the scale was investigated with non-S Rorschachs and found to be satisfactory. Four-card Rorschachs from 60 previously hospitalized adults comprised the data source for the hypothesis test. Results suggest that the Mutuality Scale accurately reflects observed pathology severity at time of hospitalization and over a lifetime, but not at the time of assessment. Hence, the Urist MAS may indicate potential for pathology.

Studied the personality correlates and psychodynamics of defensively high self-esteem, defined as a conscious, exaggerated satisfaction with the self used defensively to avoid an unconscious or less conscious lower self-regard. The hypothesis tested is that among defensively high self-esteem men in the nonpathological range of psychological functioning, the ambitiousnarcissistic/hysteriform character style is the modal character type. Forty male college students volunteered as Ss. They were divided into four groups, based upon clinicians' consensus ratings of defensiveness of self-esteem and level of self-regard. Measures of various aspects of character style—prominent thought and fantasy thema, characteristic defenses, and proneness to shame affect—were analyzed by multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA). Results were consistent with the hypothesis for measures of thought and fantasy thema. In conjunction with quantitative data, clinical interpretation of projective test responses and interaction styles was used to suggest some differences between men who exhibited defensively high self-esteem and those who showed nondefensively high self-regard.

How do various diagnostic definitions of schizophrenia compare? As part of a larger study of diagnosis and prognosis, nine different systems used for diagnosing schizophrenia were applied to a sample of patients (N=272) from two geographical catchment areas who had been hospitalized for the first time in their lives for functional psychiatric illness. The size and composition of the groups diagnosed schizophrenic by each set of criteria were then compared with respect to five clinical variables hypothesized to be important for differentiating the diagnostic systems. All data were collected with structured interviews of demonstrated reliability. Results showed that several of the variables tested distinguished schizophrenics diagnosed by some systems from those considered schizophrenic by other systems and from those patients in the sample not considered schizophrenic by any system. High levels of delusions of passivity characterized the patients classified as schizophrenic by three systems: Schneider, Langfeldt, and the Flexible System. High psychosis scores characterized the patients considered schizophrenic by the New Haven Schizophrenia Index. Increased chronicity and low levels of affective symptoms characterized the patients considered schizophrenic by the Feighner criteria. Poor work and social function characterized the patients considered schizophrenic by the hospital physician using DSM-II guidelines. These and other findings reported indicate that the various systems for diagnosing schizophrenia have both characteristic differences and overlap. Considering these can help to delineate the extent to which research findings or clinical experience based on the system can be generalized to findings based upon another.