The Divided Self Revisited: Effects of Self-Concept Clarity and Self-Concept Differentiation on Psychological Adjustment

Bigler, Monica; Neimeyer, Greg J.; Brown, E. R.

doi:10.1521/jscp.20.3.396.22302

Cited by 218 publications

(130 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…These studies were motivated by Bigler et al's (2001) suggestion that it may be necessary to examine other structural aspects of individuals' self-representations jointly with SCD in order to test the specialization versus fragmentation hypothesis in a more sensitive way. Specifically, Bigler et al (2001) proposed that the effects of SCD may be qualified by an individuals' clarity about his or her self-representations (Campbell et al, 1996). For example, it seems plausible that only individuals who have a high level of SCD and great clarity about their self-representations would be expected to support the specialization hypothesis.…”

Section: Recent Studies On Scd and Adult Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, Rogers (1959), in his theory of personality and therapy, elaborated that a coherent and integrated self-concept is a sign of a mentally healthy and welladjusted individual. Similarly, Block (1961) described the person who lacks a coherent core self as an "interpersonal chameleon" (p. 392) who lacks a sense of continuity and may be plagued by a lack of self-integrity.To date, findings from an increasing number of studies support the fragmentation hypothesis and suggest that high SCD (i.e., low self-concept consistency) is indeed associated with poorer psychological outcomes, such as higher levels of anxiety, depression, and neuroticism and lower levels of self-esteem and indicators of positive psychological well-being (Bigler, Neimeyer, & Brown, 2001;Donahue et al, 1993;Lutz & Ross, 2003;McReynolds, Altrocchi, & House, 2000). However, these studies also have some limitations, especially when the (2006) have argued that the principal-components-based index that is usually used to assess SCD is less than ideal because it may "confound irrelevant sources of variance with true withinperson variability" (p. 513).…”

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confidence: 93%

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Contextualized Self‐Representations in Adulthood

Diehl

Hay

2007

Journal of Personality

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Theorizing has focused on individuals' self-representations as a psychological resource for coping with life stress and developmental challenges in adulthood. Many of the prominent theories have conceptualized self-representations with regard to specific social contexts (e.g., role-specific selfrepresentations) and have examined specific structural organizations of the self-concept with regard to psychological adjustment. This article describes research on the associations between self-concept structures and psychological well-being in adulthood. Specific emphasis is given to the feature of self-concept differentiation (SCD). Most research suggests that a high level of SCD tends to indicate self-fragmentation and tends to be associated with poorer adjustment and psychological well-being. Findings from a daily diary study with adults of all ages are reported showing that different levels of SCD were in a consistent and meaningful way related to the daily endorsement of positive and negative self-attributes. Daily self-representations, in turn, were significantly related to individuals' level of daily negative affect and to intra-individual variation in negative affect. These findings suggest that SCD may exert its effect on adjustment and psychological well-being through specific ways of processing self-related information.The last two decades have seen important extensions of self-concept theory into research on adult development and aging (Brandtstädter & Greve, 1994;Filipp & Klauer, 1986;Markus & Herzog, 1991). In particular, theorists have focused on individuals' self-representations as a psychological resource for coping with the challenges of adulthood and old age (Brandtstädter & Greve, 1994;Freund & Smith, 1999;Greve & Wentura, 2003). 1 Many of these conceptualizations have focused on adults' self-representations with regard to specific social contexts (e.g., role-specific self-representations) and have examined the associations of different structural organizations of contextualized self-representations with different indicators of psychological adjustment (Campbell, Assanand, & DiPaula, 2003;Kling, Ryff, & Essex, 1997;Linville, 1987;Showers, Abramson, & Hogan, 1998). This article has three major parts. First, we will review the theoretical and empirical reasons that have served as background for studying contextualized self-representations in adulthood. Second, we will review research focusing on the associations between different self-concept organizations and indicators of psychological adjustment. In this review, we will highlight only some of the major findings with regard to certain self-concept organizations and will focus specifically on the associations of self-concept differentiation (SCD) and measures of psychological well-being. Third, we will present findings from cross-sectional studies and from a daily diary study examining the effect of SCD and daily self-representations on daily affect.Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Manfred Diehl, Human Development...

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Section: Recent Studies On Scd and Adult Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 93%

Contextualized Self‐Representations in Adulthood

Diehl

Hay

2007

Journal of Personality

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“…18 It is clear that establishing a sense of identity and self is an important part of development, particularly given research findings suggesting that a clear sense of self predicts psychological adjustment. 23 Individuals vary in the extent to which their self-concept is ''clearly and confidently defined, internally consistent, and temporally stable'' and this has become known as self-concept clarity. 24(p141) Those with lower self-concept clarity also possess lower self-esteem, score higher in neuroticism, engage in more self-focused ruminations, and hold less stable self-descriptions over time.…”

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confidence: 99%

Self-Concept Clarity and Online Self-Presentation in Adolescents

Fullwood

James

Chen-Wilson

2016

Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking

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The Internet may be conceptualized as a social laboratory, providing freedom to experiment with different presentations of self. Adolescence is an important time in the development of self-concept; however, little is known about how clarity of self-concept relates to online behavior. The principal aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that self-concept clarity would be associated with adolescents' inclination to experiment with online self-presentation. One hundred forty-eight participants aged 13-18 completed the Self-Concept Clarity Scale, the Facebook Intensity Scale, and the Presentation of Online Self Scale (POSS). Adolescents possessing a less stable sense of self-reported experimenting with online self-presentation more regularly, present an idealized version of self and a preference for presenting themselves online. Adolescents with a more stable self-concept reported presenting an online self, which was more consistent with their offline self-presentation. Younger adolescents were more likely to present an inconsistent self, whereas older adolescents presented themselves more consistently across different communication contexts. Finally, adolescents who spent more time on Facebook and had fewer Facebook friends were more likely to present multiple versions of self while online. The implications of these findings will be discussed in terms of the development of self-concept during adolescence and the potential for the online world to facilitate flexible identity construction and self-presentation.AU4 c

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“…This perspective continues with studies that link higher levels of purpose in life with recovery from alcoholism (Carroll, 1993;Waisberg & Porter, 1994), positive self-image (Shek, 1992), higher levels of selfesteem, balanced affect, cognitive wellbeing, and better health (Coward, 1996), greater happiness (Lewis, Lanigan, Joseph, & de Fockert, 1997), psychological wellbeing (Bigler, Neimeyer, & Brown, 2001;Thoits, 2012), mature defence mechanisms and mature coping strategies (Whitty, 2003), higher levels of perceived mental and physiological health (Nygren, Aléx, Jonsén, Gustafson, Norberg, & Lundman, 2005), higher levels of hope and satisfaction in life (Bronk, Hill, Lapsley, Talib, & Finch, 2009), and better developed emotional responses in coping with mental stress (Ishida & Okada, 2011). In a factor analytic study, Compton (2001) found that purpose in life was associated with a range of different measures including: life satisfaction, happiness, positive affectivity, self-acceptance, existential well-being, self-esteem, and environmental mastery.…”

Section: Purpose In Life and Psychological Enquirymentioning

confidence: 81%

“…More recently, this perspective continues with studies that link lower levels of purpose in life with living with HIV disease (Lyon & Younger, 2001), higher levels of suicidal ideation (Edwards & Holden, 2001), higher levels of general anxiety (Bigler, Neimeyer, & Brown, 2001), higher levels of fear of death and death avoidance (Ardelt, 2003(Ardelt, , 2008, higher levels of depression (Heisel & Flett, 2004;Hedberg, Gustafson, Aléx, & Brulin, 2010), higher risk of suicidal behaviours (Wang, Lightsey, Pietruszka, Uruk, & Wells, 2007), higher risk of psychosis and psychotic episodes (Turner, Jackson, Renwick, Sutton, & Foley, 2007), and higher risk of addiction to substances (Martin, MacKinnon, Johnson, & Rohsenow, 2011).…”

Section: Purpose In Life and Psychological Enquirymentioning

confidence: 99%

Prayer, Personality and Purpose in Life: An Empirical Enquiry among Adolescents in the uk

Francis¹,

Penny²

2016

Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion, Volume 27

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The linkage between religion and purpose in life is a matter of theoretical interest within the two fields of empirical theology and psychology of religion. Empirical evidence for this linkage remains vulnerable according to the measures of religion and purpose in life employed. Conceptually prayer provides an interesting test of this linkage in light both of the personal nature of this religious activity and of the persistence of prayer among individuals who do not attend worship services. This study draws on data provided by 10,792 13-to 15-year-old students from five different parts of the UK (England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and London) to test the connection between prayer and purpose-in-life (assessed by an established single-item measure) after taking into account personal differences (age and sex), psychological differences (Eysenck's three dimensional model of personality), and religious differences (affiliation, and worship attendance). The data demonstrate that prayer frequency adds additional prediction of enhanced levels of purpose in life among young people after taking all other variables into account, and that prayer frequency is a stronger predictor of purpose in life than religious affiliation or worship attendance.

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The Divided Self Revisited: Effects of Self-Concept Clarity and Self-Concept Differentiation on Psychological Adjustment

Cited by 218 publications

References 8 publications

Contextualized Self‐Representations in Adulthood

Contextualized Self‐Representations in Adulthood

Self-Concept Clarity and Online Self-Presentation in Adolescents

Prayer, Personality and Purpose in Life: An Empirical Enquiry among Adolescents in the uk

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