Self-concealment

What it measures

The scale assesses a person's general tendency to conceal personal information from others, adapted from a well-established psychological measure.

Response format

7-point Likert

Scale items

• I have an important secret that I haven't shared with anyone.
• If I shared all my secrets with my friends, they'd like me less.
• There are lots of things about me that I keep to myself.
• Some of my secrets have really tormented me.
• When something bad happens to me, I tend to keep it to myself.
• I'm often afraid I'll reveal something I don't want to.
• Telling a secret often backfires and I wish I hadn't told it.
• I have a secret that is so private I would lie if anybody asked me about it.
• My secrets are too embarrassing to share with others.
• I have negative thoughts about myself that I never share with anyone.

Full scale items shown. Always cite the original source when using this scale in research.

Usage notes & scoring

Adapted from Larson and Chastain's (1990) established self-concealment scale, which itself showed good reliability (α = .83) and test-retest stability, along with discriminant validity evidence. Used by Garbinsky et al. (2020) across four studies with consistently high reliability. Validity wasn't separately reassessed by Garbinsky et al.

Citation

Garbinsky, E.N., Gladstone, J.J., Nikolova, H., & Olson, J.G. (2020). Love, Lies, and Money: Financial Infidelity in Romantic Relationships. Journal of Consumer Research, 47(1), 1–24.

Keywords