Can we measure what was never there? Creating a new way to assess childhood emotional neglect

All data will be collected through SurveyMonkey using an anonymous online survey format. Two versions of the survey exist — one for CloudResearch participants including a completion code, and one for social media participants without a completion code. Both versions are otherwise identical in content and structure.

Survey Structure and Order:

1. Informed Consent Participants are presented with a full informed consent form reviewed and approved by the Roger Williams University Human Subjects Review Board (HSRB). Participants must confirm they are 18 years of age or older and consent to participate before proceeding. Those who do not consent are redirected to a thank you page and do not continue.
2. Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI) — assessing perceived caregiver warmth and overprotection
3. CENOS Items Participants complete the proposed Childhood Emotional Neglect Outcomes Scale, including the Repair Omission Index (ROI), which retrospectively assesses caregiver repair behaviors during childhood, and the Relational Repair Index (RRI) which assesses present day adult relational repair capacity (sll items are rated on a 5-point Likert scale).
4. Guilt and Shame Proneness Scale (GASP) — assessing shame and guilt response tendencies
5. Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20 (TAS-20) — assessing affect integration via alexithymia
6. Demographic Information Participants complete a brief demographic questionnaire including age, gender identity, race/ethnicity, education level, and relationship status.
7. Debriefing Statement Upon completion participants receive a full debriefing statement explaining the purpose of the study, resources for support if any questions or distress arose during participation, and instructions for CloudResearch participants to submit their completion code.

Embedded attention check items are included throughout the survey to ensure response quality and identify careless responding.

Data Quality Safeguards:

• Minimum completion threshold is monitored during data review.

• Attention check failures are identified during data cleaning prior to analysis.
• All responses are anonymous, no identifying information collected.

Data Storage: All responses are stored on secure password protected SurveyMonkey servers accessible only to the researcher. Data will be exported for analysis and stored on a password protected device.