What induces private self-consciousness?: Effects on/of self-concept, self-esteem, irrationality and basic beliefs

A sample of 74 students of the Slovak Technical University (37 males, 37 females, mean age 21 and 19, respectively) were administered these methods: the Rumination-Reflection Questionnaire (RRQ, Trapnell, Campbell, 1999), the Self-Concept Complexity Scale (SCS, Gurnakova, 2004), The Masculinity-Feminity Scale (MFS, Kusa, 2000), the Self-Concept Clarity Scale (SCCS, Campbell et al., 1996), the Basic Belief Inventory (BBI, Epstein, 1990) and the Scale of Irrational Beliefs (IPA, Kondas, Kondcova, 2000). From intergroup comparisons it ensues that although four types of subjects with different intensity and modes of private selfconsciousness do not significantly differ as regards the adjectives they use to describe themselves, they significantly differ at the level of affective relations towards themselves and the world about them. While rumination is connected with a lower level of self-esteem, more frequent irrational beliefs concerning higher vulnerability and hopelessness and, in general, with less positive basic beliefs about the world, (self-)reflection - with a certain risk of undue idealization - is connected with a more positive view of the world and self, whereby it can compensate, up to a certain degree, for the negative consequences of rumination.