Description

The Silencing the Self Scale (STSS) is a 31-item self-report instrument developed by Jack and Dill in 1992. It assesses the extent to which individuals suppress their thoughts, feelings, and personal needs to maintain important relationships, avoid conflict, or meet other people’s expectations.

The instrument is based on silencing-the-self theory, which was initially developed to explain women’s vulnerability to depression. According to this theory, social inequalities, traditional gender roles, and relationships characterized by limited mutuality may reinforce self-sacrifice, emotional suppression, and the evaluation of the self through external standards.

Purpose

The primary purpose of the STSS is to examine the cognitive and relational schemas that lead individuals to restrict authentic self-expression. It evaluates whether they:

  • judge themselves according to other people’s perceptions,
  • believe that caring requires personal self-sacrifice,
  • avoid expressing disagreement or negative emotions,
  • present an outwardly compliant identity that differs from their internal experience.

The scale is used to investigate relationships between self-silencing and depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, relationship quality, insecure attachment, and interpersonal power imbalances.

Subscales

The STSS includes four theoretically distinct subscales:

Externalized Self-Perception: Assesses the tendency to evaluate personal worth according to external standards and perceived judgments from others.

Care as Self-Sacrifice: Examines the belief that maintaining a relationship requires prioritizing other people’s needs over one’s own.

Silencing the Self: Assesses the suppression of thoughts, emotions, and desires to avoid disagreement, rejection, or relationship loss.

Divided Self: Measures the discrepancy between an outwardly compliant presentation and internal feelings such as anger, disappointment, or resistance.

Scoring

The 31 items are rated on a five-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 (“strongly disagree”) to 5 (“strongly agree”). Some items are reverse-scored and must be recoded according to the instructions for the version being administered.

Scores may be calculated for each of the four subscales and for the complete instrument. The theoretical total score ranges from 31 to 155. Higher scores indicate stronger tendencies toward self-silencing, self-sacrifice, and externalized self-evaluation.

No universally accepted clinical cut-off score has been established. Therefore, results are generally interpreted comparatively and within the context of the target population.

Statistical Analysis

Analysis may include descriptive statistics for the total and subscale scores, together with estimates of internal consistency, such as Cronbach’s alpha or McDonald’s omega.

Associations with depression, self-esteem, relationship quality, and other psychological variables may be examined using correlation, regression, mediation analysis, or structural equation modelling. Comparisons across demographic or cultural groups should be preceded by an assessment of measurement invariance.

Psychometric Properties

The original research demonstrated high internal consistency for the overall scale and satisfactory evidence of test–retest reliability. Higher STSS scores have been associated with greater depressive symptomatology and more adverse interpersonal experiences.

However, subsequent studies have not consistently confirmed the original four-factor structure. Researchers should therefore evaluate the factorial validity and reliability of both the complete scale and its subscales within each study population.

Applications and Limitations

Although the STSS was originally developed from research on women’s experiences, it has subsequently been administered to men, adolescents, couples, and different cultural groups. Its use in new populations requires careful linguistic and cultural adaptation.

The STSS is not an independent diagnostic instrument for depression or any other mental disorder. Results should be interpreted within the individual’s social and relational context, because self-silencing may represent a response to actual experiences of inequality, rejection, conflict, or abuse.

References

Cramer, K. M., & Thoms, N. (2003). Factor structure of the Silencing the Self Scale in women and men. Personality and Individual Differences, 35(3), 525–535.

Jack, D. C. (1991). Silencing the self: Women and depression. Harvard University Press.

Jack, D. C., & Dill, D. (1992). The Silencing the Self Scale: Schemas of intimacy associated with depression in women. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 16(1), 97–106.

Jack, D. C., & Ali, A. (Eds.). (2010). Silencing the self across cultures: Depression and gender in the social world. Oxford University Press.