Measuring Alcohol Use-Related Shame and Guilt: Development and Validation of the Perceptions of Drinking Scale

<i>Background</i>: The dispositional tendency to experience guilt is inversely related to disordered alcohol use, while dispositional shame-proneness appears to share a positive relationship with alcohol problems. <i>Objective</i>: In order to further research in this domain, a new measure of alcohol use-related shame and guilt is described. <i>Methods</i>: Using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), the psychometric properties of the Perceptions of Drinking Scale (PODS) were validated across two independent samples (Sample 1 <i>N</i> = 293, Sample 2 <i>N</i> = 429). <i>Results</i>: A four factor model of the PODS was identified in exploratory factor analysis. The hypothesized four-factor PODS model was validated in an independent sample using CFA (RMSEA = .046; CFI = .99; TLI = .99). Alcohol use-related shame and guilt were reliably differentiated, and test re-test stability, divergent and convergent validity was established. Alcohol use-related shame was not clearly related to taking action to address problematic alcohol use, but was positively related with measures of negative affect and using avoidance-based coping strategies. Conversely, alcohol use-related guilt was generally unrelated to measures of negative affect and was clearly associated with the taking of action to address problematic alcohol use. <i>Conclusions</i>: The Perceptions of Drinking Scale has good psychometric properties and also appears to reliably distinguish between experiences of alcohol use-related shame and guilt. Both alcohol use-related shame and guilt appear to be positively associated with the contemplation of changing one’s alcohol use-related behaviors. Only alcohol use-related guilt was clearly linked to the taking of <i>action</i> to address problematic drinking behavior.