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

Abstract

This article presents two studies that tested the ability of self-concept differentiation (SCD) and self-concept clarity (SCC) to predict levels of psychological adjustment. In Study 1, 133 college students rated themselves on measures of Self-Esteem, Purpose in Life, Sense of Coherence, Affect Balance, General Contentment, Depression, Anxiety, and Self-Disclosure Flexibility. After controlling for SCD, the addition of SCC resulted in a 9% to 33% increase in the explained variance using hierarchical multiple regression. Study 2 extended these findings to an inpatient psychiatric population (N = 31), again finding that measures of psychological adjustment were more strongly related to self-concept clarity than to self-concept differentiation. Results are interpreted as extending and qualifying Donahue et al.'s (1993) position regarding the negative impact of a “divided self” on psychological adjustment.