Spanish STSS

Background / Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the reliability of the adaptation to the Spanish population of the Silencing the Self Scale (STSS), assess its factorial structure, and analyze its associations with depression, risk of abuse of women, educational level, and having a partner. Method: After explicit consent, 535 women from all over Spain completed the STSS, the BDI-FS for depression and the WAST for abuse of women (n = 280). The STSS and BDI-FS were measured a second time with 165 of the participants. Results: The reliability of the STSS, measured by alpha coefficients, test-restest correlations, and ICC, showed good levels of consistency and stability. No factorial measurement model provided a good fit to the data, pointing out some items as especially problematic. Regarding sociodemographic variables, having a university education significantly reduces self-silencing scores, as does having a current partner. In terms of criterion validity, depression and the risk of experiencing an abusive relationship were significantly correlated with the subscales of the STSS, except for the Care as Self Sacrifice scale. A regression analysis showed that it is the Externalized Self Perception scale that significantly predicts depression scores, while the Divided Self scale significantly predicts abuse risk scores.