Abstract
Guilt is conceptualized as a multidimensional construct consisting of negative affect and a set of interrelated cognitions. Guilt magnitude is thought to be a function of the magnitudes of six variables posited as primary components of guilt: a negative event, distress, perceptions of responsibility, lack of justification, wrongdoing, and false beliefs about preoutcome knowledge. The model was tested with samples of Vietnam veterans and battered women. Participants rated their reactions to and perceived roles in trauma-related events. Among Vietnam veterans, distress ratings were highly correlated with guilt severity. Cognitive guilt-component variables were significantly correlated with guilt in both groups. In multiple regression, guilt components accounted for 61% of variance in veterans' guilt and 44% of variance in women's guilt. Among veterans, distress ratings were highly correlated with measures of PTSD and depression. In both groups, cognitive guilt-component variables were positively correlated with psychopathology. Results support the view that beliefs about one's role in trauma are important factors in posttrauma adjustment.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
American Psychiatric Association (1994).Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed.). Washington, DC: APA.
Andrews, B., & Brewin, C. R. (1990). Attributions of blame for marital violence: A study of antecedents and consequences.Journal of Marriage and the Family, 52, 757–767.
Arata, C. M., Saunders, B. E., & Kilpatrick, D. G. (1991). Concurrent validity of a Crime-Related Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Scale for women within the Symptom Checklist-90—Revised.Violence and Victims, 6, 191–199.
Barnett, O. W., & LaViolette, A. D. (1993).It could happen to anyone: Why battered women stay. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Baumeister, R. F., Stillwell, A. M., & Heatherton, T. F. (1994). Guilt: An interpersonal approach.Psychological Bulletin, 115, 243–267.
Beck, A. T., Ward, C. H., Mendelson, M., Mock, J., & Erbaugh, J. (1961). An inventory for measuring depression.Archives of General Psychiatry, 4, 561–571.
Beck, A. T., Steer, R. A., & Garbin, M. G. (1988). Psychometric properties of the Beck Depression Inventory: Twenty-five years of evaluation.Clinical Psychology Review, 8, 77–100.
Buss, A. H., & Durkee, A. (1957). An inventory for assessing different kinds of hostility.Journal of Consulting Psychology, 21, 343–349.
Cascardi, M., & O'Leary, K. D. (1992). Depressive symptomatology, self-esteem, and self-blame in battered women.Journal of Family Violence, 7, 249–259.
Dutton, M. A., Burghardt, K. J., Perrin, S. G., Chrestman, K. R., & Halle, P. M. (1994). Battered women's cognitive schemata. (1994).Journal of Traumatic Stress, 7, 237–255.
Ellsworth, P. C. (1994). Sense, culture, and sensibility. In S. Kitayama & H. R. Markus (Eds.),Emotional and culture: Empirical studies of social influence (pp. 23–50).
Fischhoff, B. (1975). Hindsight does not equal foresight: The effect of outcome knowledge on judgment under uncertainty.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 1, 288–299.
Fincham, F. D., & Jaspars, J. M. (1980). Attribution of responsibility: From man the scientist to man as lawyer. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.),Advances in Experimental Social Psychology (Vol. 13, pp. 81–138). New York: Academic Press.
Foa, E. B., Steketee, G., & Rothbaum, B. O. (1989). Behavioral/cognitive conceptualizations of post-traumatic stress disorder.Behavior Therapy, 20, 155–176.
Fontana, A., Rosenheck, R., & Brett, E. (1992). War zone traumas and posttraumatic stress disorder symptomatology.Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 180, 748–755.
Frazier, P. A., & Schauben, L. (1994). Causal attributions and recovery from rape and other stressful events.Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 13, 1–14.
Frijda, N. H. (1993). The place of appraisal in emotion.Cognition and Emotion, 7, 357–387.
Gerrard, C., & Hyer, L. (1994). Treatment of emotions: The role of guilt. In L. Hyer (Ed.),Trauma victims: Theoretical issues and practical suggestions (pp. 445–497). Muncie, IN: Accelerated Development, Inc.
Hammarberg, M. (1992). Penn Inventory for posttraumatic stress disorder: Psychometric properties.Psychological Assessment, 4, 67–76.
Harder, D. W., & Lewis, S. J. (1986). The assessment of shame and guilt. In J. N. Butcher & C. D. Spielberger (Eds.),Advances in Personality Assessment (Vol. 6, pp. 89–114). Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
Harder, D. W., & Zalma, A. (1990). Two promising shame and guilt scales: A construct validity comparison.Journal of Personality Assessment, 55, 729–745.
Hawkins, S. A., & Hastie, R. (1990). Hindsight: Biased judgments of past events after outcomes are known.Psychological Bulletin, 107, 311–327.
Haynes, S. N. (1993). Methodological issues in measuring guilt and the relation of guilt to psychopathology after trauma. In E. S. Kubany (Chair),Assessment and treatment of trauma-related guilt, Symposium conducted at AABT 27th Annual Convention, Atlanta, GA, Nov.
Heider, F. (1958).The psychology of interpersonal relations. New York: Wiley.
Hendin, H., & Haas, A. P. (1984). Combat adaptations of Vietnam veterans without posttraumatic stress disorder.American Journal of Psychiatry, 141, 956–959.
Hendin, H., & Haas, A. P. (1991). Suicide and guilt as manifestations of PTSD in Vietnam combat veterans.American Journal of Psychiatry, 148, 586–591.
Houskamp, B. M., & Foy, D. W. (1991). The assessment of posttraumatic stress disorder in battered women.Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 6, 367–375.
Horowitz, M. J., Wilner, N., & Alvarez, W. (1979). Impact of Event Scale: A measure of subjective stress.Psychosomatic Medicine, 41, 209–218.
Izard, C. E. (1977).Human emotions. New York: Plenum Press.
Janoff-Bulman, R. (1979). Characterological versus behavioral self-blame: Inquiries in depression and rape.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 37, 1798–1809.
Jehu, D. (1989). Mood disturbances among women clients sexually abused in childhood: Prevalence, etiology, treatment.Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 4, 164–184.
Keane, T. M., Caddell, J. M., & Taylor, K. L. (1988). The Mississippi Scale for Combat-Related PTSD: Three studies in reliability and validity.Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 56, 85–90.
Keane, T. M., Fairbank, J. A., Caddell, J. M., Zimering, R. T., Taylor, K. L., & Mora, C. A. (1989). Clinical evaluation of a measure to assess combat exposure.Psychological Assessment, 1, 53–55.
Kemp, A., Rawlings, E. I., & Green, B. (1991). Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in battered women: A shelter sample.Journal of Traumatic Stress, 4, 137–148.
King, D. W., King, L. A., Fairbank, J. A., Schlenger, W. E., & Surface, C. R. (1993). Enhancing the precision of the Mississippi Scale for Combat-Related Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: An application of item response theory.Psychological Assessment, 5, 457–471.
Klass, E. T. (1987). Situational approach to assessment of guilt: Development and validation of a self-report measure.Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 9, 35–48.
Kubany, E. S. (1992). Assessment and prediction of guilt in Vietnam veterans: A program of research. In F. R. Abueg (Chair),Trauma and guilt. Symposium conducted at AABT 26th Annual Convention, Boston, MA, Nov.
Kubany, E. S. (1993). Development of a Trauma-Related Guilt Scale. In E. S. Kubany (Chair),Assessment and treatment of trauma-related guilt. Symposium conducted at the AABT 28th Annual Convention, Atlanta, GA, Nov.
Kubany, E. S. (1994). A cognitive model of guilt typology in combat-related PTSD.Journal of Traumatic Stress, 8, 3–19.
Kubany, E. S., & Manke, F. P. (1995). Cognitive therapy for trauma-related guilt: Conceptual bases and treatment outlines.Cognitive and Behavioral Practice, 2, 27–61.
Kubany, E. S., Abueg, F. R., Kilauano, W. L., Manke, F. P., & Kaplan, A. S. (1995).Development of the Sources of Trauma-Related Guilt Survey—War-Zone Version (manuscript submitted for publication).
Kubany, E. S., Haynes, S. N., Abueg, F. R., Brennan, J. M., Manke, F. P., & Stahura, C. (1995).Development and validation of the Trauma-Related Guilt Inventory (TRGI) (manuscript submitted for publication)
Kubany, E. S., Kaplan, A. S., Watson, S., & Nouchi, J. (1995). Role of hindsight bias as a causal mechanism in trauma-related guilt. Poster presented at the 75th Annual Convention of the Western Psychological Convention, Los Angeles, Mar.
Kugler, K., & Jones, W. H. (1992). On conceptualizing and assessing guilt.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 62, 318–327.
McGraw, K. M. (1987). Guilt following transgression: An attribution of responsibility approach.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 53, 247–256.
Miller, D., & Porter, C. (1983). Self-blame in victims of violence.Journal of Social Issues, 39, 139–152.
Mischel, W. (1986).Introduction to personality: A new look. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
Mosher, D. L. (1968). Measurement of guilt in females in self-report inventories.Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 32, 690–695.
Pitman, R. K., Altman, B., Greenwald, E., Longpre, R. E., Macklin, M. L., Poiré, R. E., & Steketee, G. S. (1991). Psychiatric complications during flooding therapy for posttraumatic stress disorder.Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 52, 17–20.
Price, G. M. (1990). Non-rational guilt in victims of trauma.Dissociation, 3, 160–164.
Resick, P. A., & Schnicke, M. (1993).Cognitive processing for rape victims. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Roseman, I. J. (1984). Cognitive determinants of emotion: A structural theory. In P. Shaver (Ed.),Review of personality and social psychology (Vol. 5, pp. 11–36). Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
Schacter, S. (1964). The interaction of cognitive and physiological determinants of emotional state. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.),Advances in experimental psychology (Vol. 1, pp. 49–80). New York: Academic Press.
Scherer, K. R. (1984). Emotion as a multicomponent process: A model and some cross-cultural data. In P. Shaver (Ed.),Review of Personality and Social Psychology (Vol. 5, pp. 37–63). Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
Shaver, K. G., & Drown, D. (1986). On causality, responsibility, and self-blame: A theoretical note.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 50, 697–702.
Smith, C. A., & Ellsworth, P. C. (1985). Patterns of cognitive appraisal in emotion.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 48, 831–838.
Staats, A. W. (1963).Complex human behavior. With contributions by Staats, C. K. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
Staats, A. W. (1975).Social behaviorism. Homewood, IL: Dorsey Press.
Tangney, J. P. (1990). Assessing individual differences in proneness to shame and guilt: Development of the Self-Conscious Affect and Attribution Inventory.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 59, 102–111.
Walker, L. E. (1979).The battered woman. New York: Springer.
Watson, C. G. (1990). Psychometric posttraumatic stress disorder measurement techniques: A review.Psychological Assessment, 2, 355–364.
Watson, D., & Clark, L. A. (1984). Negative affectivity: the disposition to experience aversive emotional states.Psychological Bulletin, 96, 465–490.
Weiner, B. (1990). On perceiving the other as responsible. In R. Diesnstbier (Ed.),Nebraska Symposium on Motivation 1990: Perspectives on Motivation (pp. 165–190). Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
Weiner, B., Graham, S., & Chandler, C. (1982). Pity, anger, and guilt: An attributional analysis.Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 8, 226–232.
Wolfe, D. A., Sas, L., & Wekerle, C. (1994). Factors associated with the development of posttraumatic stress disorder among child victims of sexual abuse.Child Abuse and Neglect, 18, 37–50.
Wright, D. (1971).The psychology of moral behavior. Harmondsworth, England: Penguin.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kubany, E.S., Abueg, F.R., Owens, J.A. et al. Initial examination of a multidimensional model of trauma-related guilt: Applications to combat veterans and battered women. J Psychopathol Behav Assess 17, 353–376 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02229056
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02229056