The Internalized Shame Scale: Temporal stability, internal consistency, and principal components analysis

The temporal stability, internal consistency, and underlying factor structure of the 30-item Internalized Shame Scale (ISS) were examined. The inventory was administered to 184 college students, and then re-administered 14 weeks later. The stability of the ISS scales would be expected to be high since trait shame is a relatively enduring and stable personality characteristic. Analyses yielded significant test–retest correlations of the shame and self-esteem subscales of .81 and .75, respectively. Coefficient alphas for the shame and self-esteem subscales were examined and compared with those reported by Rybak and Brown (1996). The resulting high internal consistency alpha coefficients (.88 to .96) mirrored those previously reported. Overall, the ISS scales demonstrated high temporal stability and high internal consistency. Though the 24-item shame subscale was designed to consist of one underlying factor, principal components analysis revealed an underlying structure of one dominant factor, termed Inferiority, and two lesser factors, termed Fragility/Exposed and Empty/Lonely. Implications of these findings are discussed.