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The preoccupation scale: Its development and relationship with depression scales
Author(s) -
Sakamoto Shinji
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
journal of clinical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.124
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1097-4679
pISSN - 0021-9762
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1097-4679(199808)54:5<645::aid-jclp10>3.0.co;2-d
Subject(s) - psychology , depression (economics) , scale (ratio) , internal consistency , clinical psychology , reliability (semiconductor) , psychometrics , developmental psychology , power (physics) , physics , quantum mechanics , economics , macroeconomics
Self‐focus has been thought to be an important factor in the development and maintenance of depression. The disposition to focus attention inward has been measured by the Private Self‐Consciousness Scale (PSCS), which does not reflect the duration of self‐focusing. Study 1 aimed to develop a Self‐Preoccupation Scale (SPS) that would reflect both the degree and duration of self‐focusing. In addition, a new concept, external‐preoccupation—the maintenance of external‐focus on a specific object—was proposed as a risk factor of depression. An External‐Preoccupation Scale (EPS) was developed to measure this. Both the SPS and EPS showed excellent internal consistency and test‐retest reliability. Study 2 aimed to examine the relationship between the SPS, EPS, and PSCS and depression. The EPS was not significantly correlated with depression scales. The moderate correlations of the SPS with the depression scales were significantly higher than the correlations of the PSCS with the depression scales. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J. Clin Psychol 54: 645–654, 1998.