The Silencing the Self Scale: Schemas of Intimacy Associated With Depression in Women

Abstract

The Silencing the Self Scale (STSS), derived from a longitudinal study of clinically depressed women, measures specific schemas about how to make and maintain intimacy hypothesized to be associated with depression in women. To assess its psychometric properties, the STSS was administered with the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) to three samples of women: college students ( n = 63), residents in battered women's shelters ( n = 140), and mothers ( n = 270) (of 4-month-old infants) who abused cocaine during pregnancy. The STSS had a high degree of internal consistency and test–retest reliability and was significantly correlated with the BDI in all three samples.