Self-complexity and psychological distress: A test of the buffering model

Abstract

Abstract Previous research by Linville (1987) has suggested that an individual's cognitive self-complexity can moderate his or her response to stressful life events. We sought to replicate and extend this finding by testing the ability of three distinct measures of self-complexity (a trait-sort procedure, a repertory grid task, and an analysis of the complexity of a narrative self-description) to function as buffers in a multiple regression model against variations over time in depression, stress, and physical symptoms in 127 college students. The three measures of self-complexity were substantially unrelated either to one another or to a measure of general intelligence. Moreover, results supporting the buffer hypothesis were approximated only when the trait-sort operationalization of self-complexity employed by Linville was used. Clearer confirmation of the buffer hypothesis might be obtained through further prospective studies that measure self-complexity in terms of the number and similarity of self-re...