Psychometric Properties and Adaptation of the Self-Concealment Scale to the Turkish Adolescents *

The objective of this study was to adaptate the Self Concealment Scale (SCS) developed by Larson and Chastain (1990) to Turkish adolescents. The original scale is in English and consists of 10 items. Firstly, the original scale was translated into Turkish by six experts from the field and retranslated by two experts. Also, the original and Turkish forms of the scale were handed to the experts in the field of measurement and evaluation and the last form of the scale was carried out in the light of their opinions. The Turkish version of the SCS was administrated to 370 students (aged 14-18 years), attending 8 th , 9 th , 10 th and 11 th grades in Ankara, Turkey. Findings regarding the construct validity of the scale were rather consistent with the original scale's one factor structure. The Cronbach Alpha internal consistency of the scale was 0.86 for this sample. SUMMARY Purpose and Significance: Secrecy is crucial in human life, particularly during adolescence. It is thought to be related to some physical and psychological disadvantages such as physical complaints, headaches, anxiety,depression etc., in the earlier studies. However, new researchers seem to indicate that secrecy may also have important developmental functions in the period of adolescence. Secrecy is a new research area in this perspective everywhere as well as in Turkey. Thus, based on the need for measuring secrecy, this study aimed at translating and adapting Larson and Chastain's self concealment scale (1990) into Turkish. Method: The first step of the study was to get permission from the developers of the scale. Thereafter, the original scale was translated into Turkish by six experts from the field and re-translated by two experts, efficient both in English and Psychology. Later, the retranslation form was sent to Dr. Larson to check the form in terms of language, content and assessment. Also, the original and Turkish forms of the scale were handed to the experts in the field of measurement and evaluation and the last form of the scale was carried out in the light of their opinions.The sample consisted of totally 370 students (aged 14-18 years), attending 8' th , 9 th , 10 th and 11 th grades in Ankara, Turkey. In this study, demographic information form and self concealment scale were administrated. Exploratory and confirmatory factor anlysis and some descriptive analysis were conducted. Results: Based on the data from 10 items of SCS, an exploratory factor analysis with Principal Component Analysis revealed most simple factor structure as of the original scale and factor loadings accounted for . 51 and . 74 respectively. Total of 43.76% of the variance explained by one factor. Confirmatory factor analysis results indicate that one factor structure of SCS is practical and valid model. The fit indices all seem to indicate a good-fitting model. Moreover, all of the items of the SCS have significant t values that vary between . 40 and . 73 respectively to define the latent variable. Discussion and Conclusion: Results of the present study revealed that Turkish form of the SCS is consistent with the original factor structure. Thus, the SCS is valid and reliable instrument to study on adolescents in Turkey. In our study, the scale has high internal consistency (Cronbach alfa .86). For the further studies, focusing on different groups in terms of age and social characteristics is recommended.