Initial theorizing depicted self-complexity as the number of nonoverlapping self-aspects, such as traits, roles, and behaviors, and proposed that greater self-complexity is linked to better coping in response to stress and negative events. A review of the literature, however, finds inconsistent results. The inconsistency apparently arises from variation in the measurement of self-complexity. Th...

Clinicians routinely ask people with disabling psychiatric illnesses whether they receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI) or Social Security Disability Insurance (DI) benefi ts. We looked at self-reported receipt of SSI or DI by 7,220 homeless people with mental illness and compared those self-reports with information in Social Security Administration (SSA) databases. Overall agreement betwe...

Much research has demonstrated negative impacts of idealized-body imagery exposure on body satisfaction. Yet, paradoxically, media with such imagery attract mass audiences. Few studies showed women's body satisfaction increased due to thin-ideal exposure. The kind of social comparison women engage in (self-evaluation vs. self-improvement) may explain these inconsistent findings and the paradoxi...

Using cellular automata, the authors show how mutual influences among elements of self-relevant information give rise to dynamism, differentiation, and global evaluation in self-concept. The model assumes a press for integration that promotes internally generated dynamics and enables the self-structure to operate as a self-organizing dynamical system. When this press is set at high values, the ...

Close parent-child relationships are viewed as important for the development of global self-esteem. Cross-sectional research supports this hypothesis, but longitudinal studies provide inconsistent prospective effects. The current study uses data from Germany (N = 982) and the United States (N = 451) to test longitudinal relations between parent-child closeness and adolescent self-esteem. The au...

Although men and women help others, there are systematic gender differences in the type of helping they perform. Consistent with traditional roles stereotypes, typically agentic ways, communal ways. Drawing on Theory Planned Behavior, Gender Roles Inhibiting Prosociality model predicts that stereotypes about gender-inconsistent create negative attitudes, restrictive subjective norms, low self-e...

This study was to investigate the stability of self-concept in nonchronic, nonparanoid schizophrenics. Self-Concept, Health-Concept, and Food-Preference questionnaires were administered to 84 Ss. Schizophrenics and controls were divided into failure and nonfailure groups (N = 21 per group). Test-retest method with failure or neutral condition immediately preceding the 2nd testing showed schizop...