Measuring the tendency to conceal versus disclose psychological distress

Individual differences in one's tendency to conceal versus disclose psychol ogical distress were hypothesized to reflect a unidimensional construct rel ated to changes in psychological adjustment. These hypotheses were tested u sing a newly validated self report instrument called the Distress Disclosur e Index. Both exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses supported the ex istence of one bipolar dimension reflecting the frequent concealment (i.e., rare disclosure) of distress on one end of the continuum and frequent disc losure(i.e., rare concealment) on the other. Moreover, this construct predi cted changes in self-esteem, life satisfaction, and perceived social suppor t over a 2-month period. Implications for the measurement and theories of c oncealment and disclosure are discussed.