Self-concept clarity in social anxiety: psychometric properties and factor structure of the Self-Concept Clarity Scale in a social anxiety disorder sample

BackgroundThe Self-Concept Clarity Scale (SCCS) is a 12-item self-report measure that assesses self-concept clarity (SCC). Previous research has identified a relationship between lower SCC and higher levels of social anxiety. As a measure of positive psychological well-being, the SCCS can be used as a tool to examine and monitor SCC in populations with social anxiety disorder (SAD) who appear to be susceptible to inconsistent or unstable self-concept. However, the scale has yet to be validated with a SAD sample.MethodsA confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted on the SCCS data of sample of 87 individuals who met criteria for a diagnosis of SAD (M = 20.15, SD = 3.55; 83% female) and the reliability, convergent validity and norm scores of the SCCS with a SAD were also investigated.ResultsResults of the CFA supported a unidimensional factor structure. The SCCS was found to have good internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = .80) and SCCS scores were found to correlate with measures of psychological distress and social fears, however, no correlation was found with measures of social anxiety behaviours. Also, overall results found that the SAD sample scored lower on SCC than other clinical samples in previous literature.ConclusionsThese findings suggest that the SCCS is a psychometrically sound measure with unidimensional factor structure and demonstrated reliability and validity with a SAD sample, although additional research is warranted to replicate and extend the results of the current research. What is already known about this topic: The SCCS is a valid and reliable measure of self-concept clarity (SCC) with unidimensional factor structure, developed by Campbell et al. (1996).The SCCS has been used to identify that individuals with social anxiety symptomology demonstrate lower SCC.To the authors' knowledge, previous literature has not yet used the SCCS to measure SCC in a SAD clinical sample.What the current research adds: The findings of the original development paper and recent validations of the SCCS were supported by the current study - i.e., unidimensional factor structure and sound psychometric properties were demonstrated.Lower SCC was associated with social worry and cognitive distress. No association was found with behavioural symptoms of SAD.The SCCS demonstrated clinical utility as a measure that can be used to assist with treatment planning and formulation, and to address a client's beliefs about the self and their identity.