Self - Concept Clarity, Fragile Self - Esteem And Mental Health

This article reports the relationship among self-concept clarity, fragile high self-esteem, defense style and negative emotions. Study1, examined the self-concept clarity and its correlations with psychological health by applying the scale of self-concept clarity (SCCS), Defense Style Questionnaire(DSQ) and Symptom Checklist90(only select five emotion dimensions of SCL-90). By Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale(SES) and implicit association test(IAT), study2distinguished different types of high self-esteem according to the level of explicit and implicit self-esteem and selected low self-esteem group(low explicit self-esteem and low implicit self-esteem, LSE),fragile high self-esteem group (high explicit self-esteem and low implicit self-esteem, FHSE) and security high self-esteem group(high explicit self-esteem and high implicit self-esteem, SHSE),then compared their differences in defense-style and negative emotions (depression, interpersonal sensitivity, anxiety, hostility and paranoia). Study3compared three groups’differences in self-concept clarity. Then, used hierarchical multiple regression to explore the linear relationship among self-concept clarity, self-esteem and psychological health. The main conclusions are as follows:Study1:There was a significant negative correlation between self-concept clarity and two kind of defense styles (immature defense style and intermediate defense style). There was no significant correlation between self-concept clarity and mature defense style. There was a significant negative correlation between self-concept clarity and negative emotions (depression, interpersonal sensitivity, anxiety, hostility and paranoia).Study2:There was a significant negative correlation between explicit self-esteem and two kind of defense styles (immature defense style and intermediate defense style). There was a significant negative correlation between explicit self-esteem and negative emotions (depression, interpersonal sensitivity, anxiety, hostility and paranoia).Variance test results showed that, low self-esteem group, fragile high self-esteem group and security self-esteem group were significantly different in immature defense style and intermediate defense style. And the three groups also had a significant difference in negative emotions (depression, interpersonal sensitivity, anxiety, hostility and paranoia). Fragile high self-esteem group and security high self-esteem were significantly different with each other in immature defense style, intermediate defense style, anxiety and paranoid.Study3:There was a significant negative correlation between self-concept clarity and explicit self-esteem. There was no significant correlation between self-concept clarity and implicit self-esteem. Variance test results showed that, low self-esteem group, fragile high self-esteem group and security self-esteem group were significantly different in self-concept clarity. The result of hierarchical multiple regressions showed that there was a significant linear relationship between self-concept clarity and psychological health (explicit self-esteem, immature defense style, intermediate defense style, anxiety and paranoia). The effect of self-concept clarity on psychological health(immature defense style, anxiety and paranoia) was partially mediated by Explicit self-esteem.As a result, study1shows that self-concept clarity affect the individual’s psychological health. Study2verifies the existence of heterogeneity of high self-esteem, fragile high self-esteem group, low self-esteem group and security self-esteem group were significantly different in psychological health. Study3shows the effect of self-concept clarity on psychological health was partially mediated by Explicit self-esteem.