/  Assessment Tools

Early Memories of Warmth and Safeness Scale

(EMWSS)

Research Group
CBPI
Contacts Marcela Salomé Albuquerque Andrade de Matos

TITLE OF THE PORTUGUESE VERSION

Escala de Memórias Precoces de Calor e Segurança

ORIGINAL VERSION

Richter, Gilbert, & McEwan (2009)

PORTUGUESE VERSION

Marcela Matos & José Pinto-Gouveia (2010)

GENERAL DESCRIPTION

The EMWSS is a self-report questionnaire that measures the recall of feeling warm, safe, and cared for in childhood, i.e., early positive memories of warmth and affect (e.g., “I felt secure and safe”; “I felt that I was a cherished member of my family”). This is a 21-item scale rated on a 5-point Likert scale (0= No, never; 1= Yes, but rarely; 2= Yes, sometimes; 3= Yes, often; 4= Yes, most of the time) targeting an adult population. The confirmatory factor analysis of the Portuguese version of the EMWSS presented, like its original version, an interpretable single component structure, and good psychometric characteristics. Its measurement model also proved to be sex-invariant, allowing for meaningful comparisons between males and females.

REFERENCES

  • Capinha, M., Matos, M., Pereira, M., Matos, M., & Rijo, D. (2021). The Early Memories of Warmth and Safeness Scale: Dimensionality and measurement invariance. Journal of Affective Disorders, 280(2), 228-235. doi:10.1016/j.jad.2020.11.033

  • Richter A, Gilbert P, & McEwan K (2009). Development of an early memories of warmth and safeness scale and its relationship to psychopathology. Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice, 82, 171-184. doi:10.1348/147608308X395213

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