Center for Research in Neuropsychology and Cognitive Behavioral Intervention

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.