Use of the Brief Shame and Guilt Questionnaire in deaf and hard of hearing children and adolescents

Abstract

No assessment tools are available to measure shame and guilt in children who are deaf or hard of hearing (DHH), while theseself-conscious emotions might play a role in the frequently noted social and behavioral problems in this group. Therefore,the aim of this study was to validate the Brief Shame and Guilt Questionnaire (BSGQ) in DHH children. In addition, weexamined associations of shame and guilt with social anxiety, self-esteem, delinquency, and psychopathic behaviors. Asum of 225 hearing (Mage = 11.62 years) and 108 DHH (Mage = 11.82 years) participants completed the self-report BSGQ.Multigroup confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the two-factor structure (i.e., shame and guilt) of the BSGQ in the DHHgroup. Measurement invariance was established across both groups. However, the DHH group reported lower levels ofself-conscious emotions in comparison with the hearing group. The BSGQ showed good concurrent validity, where shamewas associated with higher levels of social anxiety and lower levels of self-esteem, and guilt was associated with lowerlevels of delinquency and psychopathic behavior in both groups. Future research should investigate the potential behavioralconsequences of lower reported levels of self-conscious emotions in DHH youth.