National Institute for Health and Care Research

Measure

Self-Concept Clarity Scale (SCCS)

Age range 17 — 43
Completion time 10 Minutes
Respondent Self Report
Problem areas
Anxiety Mood Problems

Overview

The Self-Concept Clarity Scale is a measure of sense of self clarity and cohesiveness, including stability of ideas of the self over time and consistency of internal self concepts.

Scoring & Interpretation

The SCCS is a 12-item measure. Respondents report their agreement with each item on a 5-point Likert scale from 'Strongly Disagree' to 'Strongly Agree'. Self-concept clarity is negatively correlated with anxiety and depression. The measure has been translated into Chinese and validated in Chinese adolescents (Wu, Watkins & Hattie, 2010). Some items are reverse-scored. Numbers correlating to the 5-point scale are summed across the 12 items to give a total score.

Psychometric Properties

Internal Consistency

Internal consistency was shown in the original paper, a = .86, and this has been replicated in further validation work (eg. Wu, Watkins & Hattie, 2010).

Test-Retest Reliability

Test-retest reliability was examined in the original paper, at .79 and .70 at 4 months and 5 months respectively.

Factor Structure

Items load on a single general factor (Campbell et al., 1996). The single-factor solution has been supported by other studies. For example when tested in individuals with socially anxiety (Glezakis et al., 2024).

Validity

In the original paper, the scale was shown to be highly correlated with measures of Neuroticism, and is also positively correlated with rumination, Extraversion, Agreeableness and Conscientiousness. In more recent work, the higher self-concept clarity is associated with greater satisfaction in own appearance, more positive affect (Vartanian et al., 2025).

Measurement Invariance

Access

Not reported.

Citation

Campbell, J. D., Trapnell, P. D., Heine, S. J., Katz, I. M., Lavallee, L. F., & Lehman, D. R. (1996). Self-Concept Clarity: Measurement, Personality Correlates, and Cultural Boundaries. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 70(1), 141–156. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.70.1.141

Original Reference

Campbell, J. D., Trapnell, P. D., Heine, S. J., Katz, I. M., Lavallee, L. F., & Lehman, D. R. (1996). Self-Concept Clarity: Measurement, Personality Correlates, and Cultural Boundaries. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 70(1), 141–156. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.70.1.141

References

  • Crocetti, E., Rubini, M., Branje, S., Koot, H. M., & Meeus, W. (2016). Self-Concept Clarity in Adolescents and Parents: A Six-Wave Longitudinal and Multi-Informant Study on Development and Intergenerational Transmission. Journal of Personality, 84(5), 580–593. https://doi.org/10.1111/jopy.12181
  • Glezakis, K., Burton, A. L., Abbott, M. J., & Norton, A. R. (2024). Self-concept clarity in social anxiety: psychometric properties and factor structure of the Self-Concept Clarity Scale in a social anxiety disorder sample. Clinical Psychologist, 28(2), 111–121. https://doi.org/10.1080/13284207.2024.2311104
  • Vartanian, L. R., Pinkus, R. T., & Fardouly, J. (2025). Self-concept clarity and appearance comparisons in everyday life. Body Image, 52, 101820-. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2024.101820
  • Wu, J., Watkins, D., & Hattie, J. (2010). Self-concept clarity: A longitudinal study of Hong Kong adolescents. Personality and Individual Differences, 48(3), 277–282. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2009.10.011

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