Experiencing adverse social relationships: The development and validation of a self- report scale that measures individuals' histories of social punishment (HoSP)

Although the relationship between childhood trauma and psychological maladjustment is well established, the link between punishing social interactions and psychopathology has yet to be explored. This may be due, in part, to the lack appropriate measurement tools. This investigation aimed to develop and validate an instrument to measure histories of social punishment defined as adverse, day-to- day interactions with significant others. Study 1examined the factor structure and test- retest reliability of the scale. Study 2 confirmed the factor structure solution and tested its convergent and discriminant validity. Study 3 explored the relationship between social punishment and obsessive-compulsive disorder, hallucinations, and depression. Overall, the scale was found to have very good to excellent psychometric properties. Further, we found significant correlations between ratings of social punishment and certain pathological behaviors. These findings extend and support the link between adverse experiences and the development of psychopathology.