Shame- and guilt-proneness in an Italian sample: Latent structure and gender invariance of the Personal Feelings Questionnaire-2 (PFQ-2)

The PFQ-2 is a brief and widely used questionnaire assessing shame- and maladaptive guilt-proneness. As empirical literature suggests cultural differences in self-conscious emotions, the present study aimed at validating the PFQ-2 in an Italian community sample (N = 367; 258 females; M age = 33.67). In particular, we investigated the factor structure of the PFQ-2, its invariance across genders, and associations of the two scales with clinically relevant constructs. Confirmatory Factor Analysis showed that a modified two-factor model fitted our data and could be replicated fairly well across genders. Both guilt- and shame-proneness scales showed acceptable internal consistency, adequate test-retest reliability, and significant associations with criterion measures (e.g., personality pathology, narcissism, psychopathological symptoms). Specific concerns regarding potentially weak items and implications of our findings were discussed. Overall, results mirror previous studies on shame- and guilt-proneness, and provide a validated Italian version of the PFQ-2 for the assessment of their clinical correlates in community samples.