The Norwegian version of the Personal Feelings Questionnaire-2: clinical utility and psychometric properties

Abstract Shame and guilt are universal emotions meant to elicit socially approved behaviors and inhibit antisocial behavior. Excessive feelings of shame and guilt—shame especially—are linked to various destructive behaviors, difficulties in emotion regulation, maladaptive personality traits, psychological difficulties, and negative impacts on treatment outcomes. These make it especially important to have a valid instrument to evaluate the mechanisms related to these emotions. No validated self-report instrument measuring generalized shame and guilt was available in Norwegian. The Personal Feelings Questionnaire (PFQ-2) is designed to measure the level of generalized shame and guilt. This project’s aim was to translate the PFQ-2 into Norwegian and evaluate the clinical utility and psychometric properties of a Norwegian version of the PFQ-2. Data were collected from students at a local university college in Norway ( N = 320, age: M = 25.4, SD = 8) and patients at a local outpatient psychiatric hospital ( N = 53, age: M = 31.4, SD = 10.43). To be able to evaluate the factor structure of the Norwegian version of the PFQ-2, the dataset was divided in two by random selection with a 50/50 split. First an Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted on one half of the sample ( N = 180) and then a Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) on the other half ( N = 193). According to the EFA the factor structure was similar to the original factor structure, with the exception of one item (item 6). Confirmatory factor analysis showed a good goodness of fit for the two factors measuring shame and guilt. The internal consistency was high in both subscales (shame, α = 0.818, and guilt, α = 0.834). The instrument showed further adequate construct validity, where the clinical sample experienced greater shame than the community sample ( M = 17, SD = 6.887 vs. M = 13, SD = 5.311) and stronger guilt ( M = 18, SD = 5.248 vs. M = 14, SD = 15.210). The subscales correlated with other constructs, as expected. The PFQ-2—with the suggested adjustment of moving one item (item 6) from the shame scale to the guilt scale—can be used to evaluate the levels of feelings of shame and guilt among adults in Norway.