Shame, Guilt, and Values in Adolescents’ Self-Evaluative Responses to Peer Victimization

Abstract

The connections between adolescents’ shame, guilt, and personal values in response to past peer victimization events were examined using qualitative coding and Epistemic Network Analysis (ENA). Two hundred and eighty-four 12- to 18-year-olds from four primary racial/ethnic groups participated at several study sites in the Northwest United States. Participants were interviewed about emotions experienced in past peer victimization events and asked to provide rationales for associated feelings of shame and guilt. Values were assessed using the Schwartz (1992) model and qualitative coding of interview transcripts. ENA results suggested that guilt was linked to threatened benevolence values, shame was linked to threatened competence values, and both emotions were linked to violated self-direction values. The discussion focuses on parallels and distinctions between youth’s situational emotions in victimization events and research on dispositional shame and guilt.