Self‐connection and well‐being: Development and validation of a self‐connection scale

Abstract

Self-connection is defined as an (1) awareness of oneself, (2) acceptance of oneself based on this awareness, and (3) alignment of one's behavior with this awareness.Although some promising results suggest that self-connection uniquely contributes to well-being, they have relied on an untested, single-item measure. To advance empirical examination of self-connection and its role in well-being, the current research developed and validated a 12-item Self-Connection Scale (SCS). We recruited a total of 1,469 participants across three studies to examine the SCS and its three underlying components. Using both exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, we found evidence supporting the factor structure and inter-item reliability as well as evidence of construct, concurrent, and incremental validity. Importantly, results from three studies suggest that the SCS is associated with multiple important indicators of health and well-being. The scale also demonstrated incremental validity beyond mindfulness, authenticity, self-concept clarity, self-compassion, and self-acceptance in its association with various mental health and well-being indicators. Thus, the SCS provides a valuable tool to measure and examine self-connection and its relationship to well-being and other important psychological outcomes.

The Watts Connectedness Scale: a new scale for measuring a sense of connectedness to self, others, and world

“…Previous conceptualisations of 'self-connection' have been largely cognitive, emotional and behavioural (Bellingham et al 1989;Klussman et al 2020Klussman et al , 2021 and have not included embodied/somatic aspects. CTS, as formulated by the WCS, acknowledges embodied qualities of 'the self', e.g., with the inclusion of the specific items 'I have felt connected to my body' and 'I have felt connected to my senses'.…”

Self-Connection and the Therapeutic Self: We Have Work to Do

“…Klussman et al (2022) published the first framework for understanding of self-connection in 2022, which deconstructed self-connection into three unique, yet interrelated components: self-awareness, self-acceptance, and self-alignment. Self-awareness represents knowing one’s 1) feelings, 2) thoughts, 3) behaviors, 4) values, 5) goals, and 6) priorities AND how they vary over time and situations (Goleman, 1995; Klussman, Nichols, et al, 2022). Self-acceptance signifies unconditional acceptance of what one knows about the self through self-awareness and yields comfort with behaving in a way that represents one’s values.…”

“…Self-acceptance signifies unconditional acceptance of what one knows about the self through self-awareness and yields comfort with behaving in a way that represents one’s values. Self-alignment occurs when one’s internal self (understood through self-awareness) is in harmony with one’s external behaviors (Klussman, Curtin, et al, 2022). When self-alignment transpires, psychological needs are met and cognitive dissonance is evaded in the absence of competing values (Harmon-Jones & Mills, 2019).…”

“…Notably, the individual components of self-connection (self-awareness, self-acceptance, and self-alignment) have each also demonstrated a unique contribution to well-being yet have a synergistic effect on well-being when operationalized together (there’s that concept of emergence again!) (Darviri et al, 2016; Klussman, Nichols, et al, 2022; Schlegel et al, 2013).…”

“…Considering how fundamentally important self-connection is to well-being, how can we help ourselves and those we serve understand how self-connected we are at any given moment in time? One way of measuring self-connection is through the 12-item Self-Connection Scale developed by the Connection Lab (Klussman, Nichols, et al, 2022). This scale demonstrates strong psychometric properties and associations with well-being measures.…”