Psychometric Properties of the Self-Concealment Scale in Spanish Adolescents: Adaptation and Validation for Eating Disorder Risk Assessment

Abstract

Background: Recent studies on transdiagnostic processes consider eating disorder (ED) examples of psychological inflexibility. To date, the instrument most widely used to evaluate self-concealment is the Self-Concealment Scale (SCS), although there is as yet no Spanish adaptation of the instrument. The objective of this study was to adapt and study evidence of validity of the SCS to the adolescent population in Spain.   

Method: A sample of 230 Spanish adolescents aged 13 to 19 years (Mean (M) = 15.52; Standard deviation (SD) = 1.13) was used to study the psychometric properties of the SCS. The discriminative capacity of the items was analyzed, their unidimensional factorial structure was confirmed, the reliability of the scores was studied, and evidence of validity in relation to other clinical variables was examined.   

Results: As in the original scale, confirmatory factor analysis showed adequate fit of the 10-item one-dimensional model (Standardized Root Mean Square Residual (SRMSR) = 0.05; comparative fit index (CFI) = 0.90). Body image inflexibility, and to a lesser extent, self-concealment, explained 52.2% of the variance in risk of ED.   

Conclusions: It was concluded that the Spanish version of the SCS has adequate psychometric properties and may be a useful tool in evaluating risk of ED in adolescents.