Exploring self-criticism: Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the FSCRS in a clinical and in a nonclinical sample

The Forms of Self-criticizing/attacking and Self-reassuring Scale (FSCRS) is a self-report questionnaire that assesses the forms of self-criticism and self-reassurance. The aim of this study was to explore the latent structure of the FSCRS in a nonclinical and in a clinical sample. Data from 381 participants from the general population and from 304 participants from clinical settings were subjected to confirmatory factor analyses to explore several structural models reflecting alternative representations of the FSCRS dimensionality. Overall, the model with the best fit to the data, in both samples, was the three-factor model (Inadequate Self, Hated Self and Reassured Self subscales) replicating the FSCRS original structure. The scale showed good psychometric characteristics and the three factors discriminated between the clinical and nonclinical sample. To our knowledge, this is the first study to confirm the factor structure of the FSCRS in a purely clinical sample, and to test alternative models. This study adds to the existent literature that has been supporting the conceptualisation of self-criticism as a multidimensional construct. Given the good psychometric properties of the Portuguese version of the FSCRS, its use is encouraged and recommended for the assessment of self-criticism in both clinical and research settings.