Guilt in childhood according to Control-Mastery Theory: from theory to empirical assessment

According to Control Mastery Theory (CMT; Weiss, 1993; Gazzillo, 2016) and recent developments in moral evolutionary psychology and emotional neurosciences, guilt is basically a healthy and adaptive emotion originating from pro-social motivations developed thanks to group selection pressures. However, when associated with pathogenic beliefs stemming from traumatic experiences, guilt may generate dysfunctional feelings, attitudes and behaviors. This work will offer a brief review of the empirical literature about the development of guilt in childhood. We will then show the first validation data of the Interpersonal Guilt Rating Scale-15 for children (IGRS-15c; Gazzillo et al., 2017), a self-report which assesses Survivor Guilt, Omnipotence Guilt, Self-Hate according to CMT. We reviewed some of the most representative empirical contributions about moral development in childhood. About the research on IGRS-15 for children, it was conducted on a sample of 599 children between 8 and 12 years old. We conducted a three-factor Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) assessed concurrent/discriminant and construct validity of the IGRS-15C. CFA points out that the overall fit of the model discriminating Survivor Guilt, Omnipotence Guilt and Self-Hate is good and EFA shows the same factor solution model. In addition, we have found: positive and significant correlations between IGRS guilt and the scales of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI; Albiero et al., 2006); positive and significative correlations between Survivor and Omnipotence guilt and the scales of guilt and shame of BSGQ (Novin & Rieffe, 2015) and Pro-socialiness Scale (Caprara et al., 2005); finally, Self-Hate differentiates children with secure attachment from children with anxious attachment. On the bases of the analyses conducted, it can be claimed that the IGRS15C is a good measure of children interpersonal guilt.