Abstract

This paper presents a Spanish-language adaptation of the Self-Concealment Scale (SCS) by Larson and Chastain (1990) and its validation in a Chilean convenience sample. The participants were 193 adults (100 men and 93 women) with a mean age of 28.39 years (SD = 8.75), grouped in 3 subsamples from the Metropolitan Region: 53 college students, 64 students from a technical institute, and 76 professionals and community leaders of a non-profit organization. In order to examine the validity of the Spanish-language version of the SCS, a confirmatory factor analysis was conducted. Results suggest that the Spanish-language version of the SCS has satisfactory psychometric properties, showing high internal consistency (a = 0.85) and acceptable stability over time (r = 0.74). Like the original scale, the validated Spanish-language version proved to be unidimensional and its scores correlated directly with anxious and depressive symptomatology as measured with the Outcome Questionnaire 30.2 (OQ 30.2). These findings support the use of this version of the SCS with Spanish-speaking population.