Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Carlo Magno
Sherwin Cuason
Christine Figueroa
De La Salle University-Manila
Abstract
The purpose of the present study is to develop a measure for self-disclosure. The items
were based on a survey administered to 83 college students. From the survey 114 items
were constructed under 9 hypothesized factors. The items were reviewed by experts. The
main try out form of the test was composed of 112 items administered to 100 high school
and college students. The data analysis showed that the test has a Cronbach’s alpha of
.91. The factor loadings retained 60 items with high summated correlations under five
factors. The new factors are beliefs, relationships, personal matters, interests, and
intimate feelings.
Each person has a complex personality system. Individuals are oftentimes very
much interested in knowing our personality type, attitudes, interests, aptitude,
achievement and intelligence. This is the reason why we should develop a psychological
test that would help us assess our standing. The test we have developed aims to measure
the self-disclosing frequency individuals in different areas. This will help them know
what areas in their life they are willing to let other people know. This would be a good
instrument for counselors to use for the assessment of their clients. The result of the
client’s test would help the counselor adjust his or her skills eliciting or disclosing more
or other areas or other topics.
Self-disclosure is a very important aspect in the counseling process, because self-
disclosure is one of the instruments the counselor can use. The consequence of the client
not disclosing himself is their inability to respond to their problem and to the counselor.
This is what the researchers took into consideration in developing the test. It could also
be used outside the counseling process. An individual may want to take it to find out
what areas in his or her life have been easy for them to shell out and what areas need
more revelations.
(1989) defined self-disclosure as the process by which persons make themselves known
to each other and occur when an individual communicates genuine thoughts and feelings.
Generally, self-disclosure is the process in which a person is willing to share or
open oneself to another person or group whom the individual can trust and the process is
done verbally. The factors identified in self-disclosure which are potent areas in the
content in communicating superficial or intimate topics are (1) Personal matters, (2)
Thoughts & ideas, (3) Religion, (4) Work, study & accomplishments, (5) Sex, (6)
Interpersonal relationship, (7) Emotional state, (8) tastes, (9) Problems.
The process of self-disclosure occurs during interaction with others (Chelume,
Skiffington, & Williams, 1981). In the studies that Jourard (1961;1969) conducted, he
stated that a person will permit himself to be known when “ he believes his audience is
man of goodwill.” There should be a guarantee of privacy that the information disclosed
will not escape the circle.
Jourard (1971) noted that persons need to self-disclose to get in touch with their
real selves, to have intimate relationships with people, to bond with others, in pursuit of
the truth of one’s being and to direct their destiny on the basis of knowledge. Jourard
agrees with Buber (1965) that in a humanistic sense of self-disclosure “we see the index
of man functioning at his highest and truly human level rather than at the level of a thing
or an animal. “
The consequences that follow after self-disclosure are manifested on its outcomes
(Jourard, 1971). The outcomes are:
(1) We learn the extent to which we are similar, one to the other, and to the extent
to which we differ from one another in thoughts, feelings, hopes and reactions to the past.
(2) We learn of the other man’s needs, enabling them to help him or to ensure that
his needs will not be met.
(3) We learn the extent to which a man accords with or deviates from moral and
ethical standards.
In a survey that the researchers have conducted, a person after disclosing feels
better (42.2%), happy (8.26%), free (5.51%), fine (4.6%), relaxed (3.67%), peaceful
(3.67%), okay (3.67%), lighter (2.75%), calm (2.75%), great (1.83%), satisfied (1.83%),
nothing (6.42%), and others (12.88%). Furthermore, it was reported that on being
transparent or open, individuals feel relieved that a burden was taken off their shoulders,
they experience peace of mind, and consequently happiness, contact with his or her real
self, and better able to direct their destiny on the basis of knowledge (Jourard, 1971;
Maningas, 1993).
Cozby (1973) noted that self-disclosure as an ongoing behavioral process include
five basic parameters: amount of personal information disclosed; intimacy of the
information disclosed; rate or duration of disclosure; affective manner of presentation;
and disclosing flexibility, these are the appropriate cross-situational modulation of
disclosure. Cozby (1973) further stated that interrelatedness on these parameters is used
interchangeably.
Areas of Self-disclosure
Personal matters about the self. Personal matters consist of private truths about
oneself and it may be favorable or unfavorable evaluative reaction toward something or
someone, exhibited in one’s belief, feelings or intended behavior.
In an experiment conducted by Taylor, Gould, and Brounstein (1981), they found
that the level of intimacy of the disclosure was determined by (1) dispositional
characteristics, (2) characteristics of subjects, and (3) the situation. Their personalistic
hypothesis was confirmed that the level of disclosure affects the level of intimacy. Some
studies also show that some individuals are more willing to disclose personal information
about themselves to high disclosing rather than low disclosing others (Jourard, 1959;
Jourard & Landsman, 1960; Jourard & Richman, 1963; Altman & Taylor, 1973).
Furthermore, Jones & Archer (1976) have sought directly that the recipient’s attraction
towards a discloser would be mediated by the personalistic attribution the recipient makes
for the disclosers level of intimacy.
Kelly and McKillop (1996) in their article stated that “choosing to reveal personal
secrets is a complex decision that could have distorting consequences, such as being
rejected and alienated from the listener.” But Jourard (1971) noted that a healthy
behavior feels “right” and it should produce growth and integrity. Thus, disclosing
personal matters about oneself is a means of being honest and seeking others to
understand you better.
Thoughts. Is defined as the things in mind that one is willing to share with other
people. “A friend”, Emerson wrote, “ is a person with whom I may be sincere. Before
him I may think aloud.” A large number of studies have documented the link between
friendship and the disclosure of personal thoughts and feelings that Emerson’s statement
implies (Rubin & Shenker, 1975). Another study presents a self-psychological rationale
for the selected use of therapist self-disclosure, the conscious sharing of thoughts,
feelings, attitudes, or experiences with a patient (Goldstein, 1994).
Table 1
Hypothesized factors of Self-disclosure
Factor Definition
Emotional state One’s revelation of emotions or feelings to other people.
Feelings, attitudes toward a situation being revealed to
others.
Interpersonal relationship Indicates movement towards greater intimacy in
interpersonal relationships. Range of relationships or
bonding formed within the outside the family.
Personal matters Private truth about oneself, favorable or unfavorable,
toward something or someone and is exhibited in one’s
belief, feelings or intended behavior. Being honest and
seeking others to know you better by disclosing.
Problems Depressing event or situation that can be lightened
through disclosing. Conflict, disagreement experienced by
an individual.
Religion Ability of an individual to share his experiences, thoughts
and emotions toward his feeling of God. Concept,
perception and view of religion by an individual being
able to share or tackle in the face of others.
Sex As a way of being in the world of men and women whose
moments of life is spent to experience being with the
entire world in a distinctly male or female way.
Willingness of a person to discuss his sexual experiences,
needs and views.
Taste Likes and dislikes of a person opened to other people.
Views, feeling, appreciation of a person, place or thing.
Thoughts Information in mind that you are willing to share with
other people. Perception regarding a thing, or situation
which is shared with others.
Work/study/accomplishment Person’s present duty in which is expected to him. A
person’s responsibility being expected by others and to be
fulfilled in a particular time.
Method
Pretryout Form
In the pretryout form, 10 forms were prepared to be answered by 10 respondents
conveniently selected, then a feedback is given on vague and not applicable items, and
other comments. There were 10 psychology majors who answered the pre-test form (6
females and 4 males).
The pretryout form consists of 110 items still with nine factors. There were six
negative items (item no. 7, 30, 97, 106, 107, 109) and the rest were positive items. The
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scaling used was the verbal frequency scale because the test is a measure of a habit. The
order of the items were randomly arranged and the responses are answered by checking
the corresponding scale. The purpose of the pretryout form is for mild testing 10 subjects
and to ask for comments for further revision.
Test Plan
In administering the test there is no alloted time to answer the test. The
respondents or person taking the test is instructed to shade their corresponding answer on
the answer sheet. There is no right or wrong answer in the test so respondents should
answer as honestly as possible.
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Results
The corrected item-total correlation of the 62 items have a total correlation of
above .30. The item-total correlation of accepted items ranges from .4866 to .3009, the
item correlation of the deleted items ranges from -.0123 to .2980. The coefficient alpha
reliability is .9134, the standard item alpha is .9166.
A correlation matrix was made on the 112 items, the mean for the interiitem
correlation is .339, the variance is 1821.3782, and the standard deviation is 42.6776. The
highest intercorrelation of items is .6543 that occurred between item number 51 and item
number 74.
In the process of factor analysis, the hypothesized nine factors were extracted into
18 factors with an eigenvalue of 1.07878. The researchers considered 4% of variance
which offers 5 factors. Table 2 shows the accepted items with their factor loadings.
Table 2
Accepted items with their factor loadings
item95 .6780
item65 .59372
item94 .54047
item53 .51697
item75 .50285
item68 .44658
item66 .41453
item76 .41102
item96 .38957
item99 .36690
item11 .36482
item111 .29875
item82 .77164
item83 .69717
item17 .59079
item10 .54027
item104 .45128
item100 .44697
item56 .42587
item60 .39554
item62 .39486
item69 .32917
item27 .63290
item34 .61822
item39 .58744
item78 .54582
item43 .49976
item01 .49312
item28 .43613
item26 .43205
item35 .42141
item32 .41807
item72 .41475
item06 .35834
item73 .32098
item10 .54207
item100 .446979
item104 .54207
Item17 .59079
item56 .42587
item60 .39554
item62 .38486
item69 .32917
item82 .77164
item83 .69717
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Table 3
Factor Transformation Matrix
The new five factors were given new names because the contents were different.
Factor 1 was labeled as Beliefs with 11 items, Factor 2 was labeled as relationships with
13 items, Factor 3 labeled as Personal Matters with 13 items, and Factor 4 as intimate
feelings with 13 items, and factor 5 labeled as interests with 10 items.
Table 4
New Table of Specification
60
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Discussion
At first there were nine hypothesized factor based on a survey, 18 factors were
then extracted with eigenvalues greater than 1.00. Finally there were a final of five
factors with acceptable factor loadings. The five factors have new labels because the
items were rotated differently based on the data on the main tryout. Factor 1 contains
items about the beliefs on religion, and ideas on a particular topic and it is labeled as
such. Factor 2 contains items reflecting relationships with friends and it was labeled as
“relationships.” Factor 3 contains items about a person’s secrets and attitudes and most
of the items contains personal matters and it was labeled as such. Factor 4 is a cluster of
taste and perceptions so it was labeled as interest. Factor 5 contains feelings about
oneself, problems, love, success, and frustrations, so it was labeled as intimate feelings.
The factors were reliable due to their alpha which are .8031, .7696, .7962, .7922, .7979.
It only shows that each factor is consistent with the intended purpose of the researchers.
In the result of factor analysis the items were not equal in each factor, factor 1 has 11
items, factor 2 has 13 items, factor 3 has 13 items, factor 4 has 10 items and factor 5 has
13 items. The five factors account for the areas in which a particular individual self-
discloses.
There were nine hypothesized factors, all of these were disproved, new factors
arrived after factor analysis. The items were reclassified in every factor and it was given
a new name. Only five factors were accepted following the four percent rating of the
eigenvalue. These factors are Beliefs, Relationships, Interests, Personal matters, and
intimate feelings. The test we have developed intended to measure the degree of self-
disclosure of individuals but it was refocused to measure the self-disclosure each person
makes on each different areas or factors.
In terms of the test’s psychometric property, it has gone in the level of item review
by experts and factor analysis, it has an internal consistency of .9134 which is high.
Considering that the test has just undergone its initial stages, further validation study is
recommended to give more detailed properties of the test. Norming and interpretation for
the test is not yet further established where it needs to be administered to a large sample
size. An intensive study should be made with considerable and appropriate number of
respondents. In terms of the sampling a probabilistic technique is suggested to account
for further generalization in the study because the current test only used a purposive non-
probabilistic sampling.
References
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Appendix A
Items on the Preliminary Test Form
SEX
PROBLEMS
7. I feel like telling my friends about my problem more when it’s in a way of a joke.
8. My problems come out easily on my mouth when I’m on the phone.
9. I tell my barkada the hassles I experience at home.
10. I feel saying my personal insecurities to others.
11. I feel opening my personal problems to others.
12. I think of telling all my problems to my parents.
13. I feel opening up my troubled situations to others.
14. I feel telling anyone about my failures.
15. I talk about my problems to others.
16. I talk about my current struggles in life to others.
17. I talk about my family problems to people.
18. I discuss my problem to the first friend I meet during the day.
19. I feel talking to people about my problems anytime.
20. I share my personal problems in a large group of people..
21. I will share my problems to my boyfriend/girlfriend.
INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS
ACCOMPLISHMENTS/WORK/STUDY
RELIGION
TASTE
EMOTIONAL STATE
THOUGHTS
PERSONAL
Appendix B
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Instructions:
Please answer the test honestly. Do not leave any items unanswered. There are no right
or wrong answers. There is no time limit in taking the test so take your time.
Example: N R S O A
1. I discuss the time when I felt I was in love. 0 0 0 0 0
For this item the respondent shaded the circle below the letter A, which means
that he or she have encountered, done or felt the situation all the time or always.