INTERPERSONAL GUILT - THE DEVELOPMENT OF A NEW MEASURE

We describe the development of a new measure to assess guilt related t o concern about harming others. The two versions of the Interpersonal Guilt Questionnaire, a 45-item and 67-item version, include theoretica lly-based and clinically relevant categories of guilt: survivor guilt, separation/disloyalty guilt, omnipotent responsibility guilt, and sel f-hate guilt. Preliminary reliability and validity studies for both ve rsions are presented, based on clinical and nonclinical samples of sub jects. Subscales on both versions show good internal consistency; howe ver, the second version, which expanded on thefirst, is more psychomet rically sound overall. Both versions demonstrated predicted correlatio ns with previously published measures of guilt and related affects, su ch as shame and depression, and with attributional style. Differences between clinical and nonclinical samples are reported and the relevanc e of survivor guilt and shame to psychopathology is noted. (C) 1997 Jo hn Wiley & Sons, Inc.