Permission to use the Silencing the Self Scale
You have permission to use the Silencing the Self Scale (STSS) for your research under the following conditions. Do not alter the scale in any way, and please keep the copyright information at the bottom of each page of the scale you reproduce. Finally, send a brief description of your study by email to Dana.Jack@wwu.edu, and please send the results of your study so that I may keep the researcher list updated.
Scoring on the STSS is straightforward and instructions are contained in the article, "The Silencing the Self Scale: Schemas of Intimacy Associated with Depression in Women." Co-author Diana Dill. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 16, 1992, pp. 97-106.
I want to call your attention to the following:
· You will notice that the last item (#31) in the scale cannot be analyzed statistically. It is intended to be used for descriptive and exploratory purposes; for example, to determine whether different samples may employ different standards.
· As indicated in the article, scale items #1, 8, 11, 15, and 21 are reverse scored before summing all the items. So, for example, if a person answers item #8 by circling a 2, it is changed to a 4 before being added, or a 1 changes to a 5, or vice versa.
· Items #1 and #11 have zero to negative item-total correlation in several studies. I suggest that you check item-total correlation of these two items for your sample, and report them in your study.
Instructions to respondents are as follows: “Please circle the number which best describes how you feel about each of the statements listed below. Please answer regarding your feelings and behavior in relation to an intimate partner. If you are not currently in an intimate relationship, answer according to how you felt and behaved in your last intimate relationship.”
The theory behind the scale is described in D. C. Jack (1991). Silencing the self: Women and depression. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press (paperback, HarperCollins, 1992), and in additional publications listed in the “Researchers List” contained on the web page.
Dana Crowley Jack
August, 2003