Psychometric Properties of the Short Form of the Self-Criticism/Self-Reassurance Scale among University Students
Keywords:
Self-criticism, Self-reassurance, Psychometric properties, University studentsAbstract
Purpose: This study aimed to examine the psychometric properties of the Persian short form of the Self-Criticism/Self-Reassurance Scale among university students.
Methods and Materials: The present study was a descriptive psychometric validation study. The statistical population consisted of university students in Tehran during the 2025–2026 academic year. A total of 573 students were selected using convenience sampling. The research instruments included the Short Form of the Self-Criticism/Self-Reassurance Scale (FSCRS-SF), the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21), the Self-Compassion Scale–Short Form (SCS-SF), and the Self-Critical Rumination Scale (SCRS). Content validity, confirmatory factor analysis, convergent and divergent validity, and internal consistency reliability were examined.
Findings: The content validity results indicated that three items were removed due to low content validity ratio, and the final 11-item version was retained for subsequent analyses. Confirmatory factor analysis supported a two-factor structure consisting of self-criticism and self-reassurance, and the model fit indices indicated acceptable to favorable fit. Correlational analyses showed that self-criticism had positive and significant associations with depression, anxiety, stress, and self-critical rumination, while it had negative and significant associations with self-compassion and self-reassurance. In contrast, self-reassurance was negatively and significantly associated with negative emotional symptoms and self-critical rumination, and positively and significantly associated with self-compassion. Cronbach’s alpha and McDonald’s omega coefficients for the self-criticism and self-reassurance subscales indicated satisfactory internal consistency.
Conclusion: The findings support the validity and reliability of the Persian 11-item short form of the Self-Criticism/Self-Reassurance Scale among university students. This instrument can be used as a brief, valid, and practical measure in preliminary psychological research and screening contexts.
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Copyright (c) 2025 Khojasteh Moosavi (Author); Fatemeh Dehghan; Amirhoushang Ehsani (Author)
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