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Authenticity as a Predictor of Mental Health

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The aim of this research was to evaluate the relationship between authenticity and mental health on a sample of 706 students. Results showed that all subscales of the Authenticity scale (authentic living, accepting external influence and self-alienation) were correlated with all general scales and subscales of the MHI-38 (psychological distress-anxiety, depression, loss of behavioural/emotional control; psychological well-being-overall positive affect, emotional ties and satisfaction with life and overall mental health index). Hierarchical regression showed that authenticity composed of all three dimensions together is a statistically significant predictor of psychological distress, psychological well-being and overall mental health index. The confirmation that authenticity is closely connected to mental health and significantly contributes to it is a good example of how classic perspectives in psychological counselling can set further directions of research within personality psychology.
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Klinička psihologija 10 (2017), 1-2, 23-34
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Izvorni znanstveni rad - UDK 159.913
DOI: 10.21465/2017-KP-1-2-0002
AUTHENTICITY AS A PREDICTOR OF MENTAL HEALTH
Djurdja Grijak
University of Novi Sad,
Technical faculty “Mihajlo Pupin” Zrenjanin
Djure Djakovića bb, 23000 Zrenjanin
gdjurdja@gmail.com
Abstract
The aim of this research was to evaluate the relationship between authenticity and
mental health on a sample of 706 students. Results showed that all subscales of the
Authenticity scale (authentic living, accepting external inuence and self-alienation)
were correlated with all general scales and subscales of the MHI-38 (psychological
distress – anxiety, depression, loss of behavioural/emotional control; psychological
well-being – overall positive aect, emotional ties and satisfaction with life and ove-
rall mental health index). Hierarchical regression showed that authenticity composed
of all three dimensions together is a statistically signicant predictor of psychological
distress, psychological well-being and overall mental health index. The conrmation
that authenticity is closely connected to mental health and signicantly contributes to
it is a good example of how classic perspectives in psychological counselling can set
further directions of research within personality psychology.
Key words: authenticity, mental health, students
INTRODUCTION
Human strengths and virtues, mental health and well-being have long been
neglected as a subject of psychological research which dealt with symptoms and
disorders (Seligman, 2002). Positive psychologists believe that the reason for this
can be found in the fact that the researchers misunderstood the positive aspects of
psychological functioning in their attempt to reach a better understanding of people.
Only in recent years have psychologists started to focus on positive concepts such
as authenticity and mental health.
Carl Rogers, a humanistic psychologist, in trying to understand the human being
came to view every individual as a unique being (Schmid, 2004). To be a person,
Grijak, D., Authenticity as a Predictor of Mental Health, Klinička psihologija 10 (2017), 1-2, 23-34
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according to Rogers, means to live authentically and develop personal po-
tentials in a constructive way. And to live authentically means to be able to
keep the balance between the substantial and the relational tasks of living in
the process of realizing one’s own values and needs, individuality and uniqu-
eness, while at the same time living together with others and meeting the
needs and challenges of these relations in interdependence and solidarity. An
authentic person is a functional person, claimed Rogers. Therefore, a person
who lives authentically is healthy or normal. Within the concept of unique-
ness of each person it means that each person is authentic in a dierent way.
According to Rogers, a person’s authenticity implies a process, never a state
or an end product (Schmid, 2001). Authenticity is a dynamic process whereby
one’s potentials, characteristics, emotions, values and motivation are discovered
and explored, accepted, imbued with meaning or purpose, and actualized (Rogers,
1961).
With the development of positive psychology grew the interest into researching
authenticity. In the eld of positive psychology, authenticity is dened as owning
one’s personal experiences, be they thoughts, emotions, needs, preferences, or be-
liefs, processes captured by the injunction to know oneself and behaving in accor-
dance with the true self (Seligman, 2002). Positive psychologists focused on six
overarching human virtues underpinned by 24 character strengths, and represented
authenticity together with honesty as character strengths existing within the virtue
of courage (Peterson & Seligman, 2004).
At the same time, numerous attempts were made to dene authenticity. These
denitions ranged from an individual’s ability to understand and own his or her
thoughts, emotions, needs, wants, beliefs, and preferences, while behaving consi-
stently with his or her inner thoughts and feelings (Harter, 2002) in accordance
between how someone presents himself/herself and what he/she actually is (Snyder
& Lopez, 2009).
Wood, Linley, Maltby, Baliousis and Joseph (2008) relied on the huma-
nistic concept (Barrett-Lennard, 1998) and dened authenticity through se-
lf-alienation, accepting external inuence and authentic living. People who
accept external inuence are more prone to self-alienation, and those who
accept only certain external inuences lead an authentic life. The same aut-
hors have constructed an authenticity scale in order to operationalize the tri-
partite model of authenticity comprising dierent denitions of authenticity.
The factor of self-alienation measures an individual’s subjective experience
of not knowing oneself and lacking the feeling of integrity. The factor of
accepting external inuence measures the extent to which an individual be-
lieves that they need to adjust their behaviour to the expectations of others.
The last factor of authentic living measures the extent of coherence between
an individual’s behaviour and their values and beliefs.
Grijak, D., Authenticity as a Predictor of Mental Health, Klinička psihologija 10 (2017), 1-2, 23-34
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In many mainstream counselling psychology perspectives, authenticity is seen
as the most fundamental aspect of well-being (Rogers, 1961). These researchers see
authenticity not simply as an aspect or precursor to well-being but rather the very
essence of well-being and healthy functioning. As such, departures from authenti-
city are seen as involving increasing psychopathology, i.e. damaging one’s mental
health. However, many of these approaches have not been subjected to empirical
verication, and the empirical evidence that does exist regarding the relationship
between authenticity and well-being is mostly indirect and focuses primarily on one
or another of the three factors of authenticity.
Numerous philosophical theories have dealt with the positive aspects in
life (Deci & Ryan, 2008; Ryan & Deci, 2001). Ancient Greek theorists analysed
factors of the good life and produced two main theories on well-being which are
still central in positive psychology. One of them is hedonism, according to which
well-being is the strengthening of positive and weakening of negative feelings.
The other one is eudemonism which denes well-being as optimal human func-
tioning and self-realization. Both theories assess well-being based on subjective
experience.
According to one model of mental health (Veit & Ware, 1983), there are two
components of mental health psychological well-being and psychological distress.
Well-being is a broad, diverse and diusive idea, and psychological well-being is
dened as a broad construct with numerous cognitive and emotional components
such as satisfaction with life, positive and negative emotions, accordance between
the expected and actualized life goals. Well-being is dened through three basic
components (Myers & Diener, 1995) – satisfaction with life which measures satis-
faction with work and relationships with others, relative existence of positive emo-
tions which measures the existence of pleasant emotions and a positive assessment
of the environment, relative absence of negative emotions which implies absence
of emotions such as anxiety, depression and anger. Psychological distress describes
the negative state of one’s mental health. Psychological distress is dened as experi-
encing lack of interest, sleep problems, feeling of disappointment, sadness, anxiety,
desperation and boredom, diculties in relationships with others (Wineeld, Gill,
Taylor & Pilkington, 2012).
In this paper, the author presents a research aimed to evaluate the relationship
between dimensions of authenticity – authentic living, accepting external inuence
and self-alienation and mental health measured through dimensions of psycholo-
gical distress (Anxiety, Depression, Loss of Behavioural/Emotional Control) and
psychological well-being (General Positive Aect, Emotional Ties, Life Satisfac-
tion). Based on previous theoretical and empirical discussions, it is expected that
results would show that high authentic living, low acceptance of external inuence
and low self-alienation (authentic person) is positively correlated with psychologi-
cal well-being and negatively correlated with psychological distress.
Grijak, D., Authenticity as a Predictor of Mental Health, Klinička psihologija 10 (2017), 1-2, 23-34
26 DOI: 10.21465/2017-KP-1-2-0002
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METHOD
Participants and procedure
The study was conducted on 706 students (76.5% females) from the University
in Novi Sad, Business Academy in Novi Sad and State University in Novi Pazar.
The average age of participants was 22.58 (SD = 5.19, age span 18-39).
Instruments
Authenticity. The study used the Authenticity Scale constructed by Wood and
associates (Wood et al., 2008) from the humanistic model on tripartite authenticity
and psychometrically validated in Serbian by Grijak (2017). The scale consists of
three subscales – authentic living (4 items), accepting external inuence (4 items)
and self-alienation (4 items). Participants were asked to give a subjective assess-
ment of the extent to which each claim on each subscale describes them – from 1
(does not describe me at all) to 7 (describes me very well). The results on each sub-
scale theoretically range from min 4 to max. 28. All subscales are scored so higher
scores indicate more of the construct named by the subscale label. The authentic
person has high scores on subscale Authentic living and low scores on the other
two subscales – Accepting external inuence and Self-alienation. The subscale Au-
thentic living questions to what extent a person adjusts their behaviour and emo-
tions to their beliefs, values and actual psychological states. The subscale Accepting
external inuence shows the participant’s belief that they have to conform to the
expectations of others. The subscale Self-alienation tests how well the participants
know themselves, their values and beliefs. In this research, Authentic living had
internal consistency α = 0.68 (M = 23.02, SD = 3.99), Accepting external inuence
α = 0.71 (M = 11.46, SD = 4.81) and Self-alienation α = 0.76 (M = 10.75, SD =
5.18). Original subscales Authentic living, Accepting external inuence and Self-
alienation showed internal consistency as follows: 0.62, 0.67 and 0.79 (Wood et
al., 2008), in the Iranian adaptation 0.82, 0.81 and 0.77 (Shamsi et al., 2012), in the
French adaptation between 0.77 and 0.82 (Grégoire et al., 2014), and in the Turkish
adaptation 0.62, 0.67 and 0.79 (Ilhan & Özdemir, 2013).
MHI-38 (Mental Health Inventory-38; Veit & Ware, 1983). MHI-38 includes
38 items divided into six subscales, consisting of two general scales, Psychological
distress with 24 items (anxiety – 9 items, depression – 4 items, loss of behavioural/
emotional control – 9 items) and Psychological well-being with 14 items (overall
positive aect - 10 items, emotional ties 2 items and satisfaction with life 1
item). Possible answers included 1 all of the time, 2 most of the time, 3 a
good bit of the time, 4 – some of the time, 5 – a little of the time, 6 – none of the
Grijak, D., Authenticity as a Predictor of Mental Health, Klinička psihologija 10 (2017), 1-2, 23-34
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time. The results theoretically range from min. 9 to max 54 on the subscale Anxi-
ety, from min. 4 to max. 23 on the subscale Depression, from min. 9 to max. 53 on
the subscale Loss of Behavioural/Emotional Control, from min. 10 to max. 60 on
the subscale General Positive Aect, from min. 2 to max. 12 on the subscale Emo-
tional Ties, from min. 1 to max. 6 on the subscale Life Satisfaction. All subscales
are scored so higher scores indicate more of the construct named by the subscale
label. Thus, higher scores on three subscales indicate positive states of mental he-
alth (General Positive Aect, Emotional Ties, Life Satisfaction) and higher scores
on the other three subscales indicate negative states of mental health (Anxiety, De-
pression, Loss of Behavioural/Emotional Control). In general scales, results on the
scale Psychological Distress range theoretically from min. 24 to max. 142 and on
the scale Psychological Well-being results theoretically range from min 14 to max.
84. Higher scores on Psychological Distress indicate negative states of mind, whi-
le higher scores on Psychological Well-being indicate positive states. The overall
mental health index covers all the items (results theoretically range from min. 38 to
max. 226) and high values imply high psychological well-being and relatively low
psychological distress. Also, high values on the general scale Psychological distress
imply a negative mental health status. In this research, the general scale Psycholo-
gical distress had an internal consistency α = 0.81 (M = 60.36, SD = 19.23), and the
subscale Psychological well-being α = 0.75 (M = 54.5511, SD = 11.26). In previo-
us research the estimates of internal consistency for the Mental Health scales were
high – for Psychological Distress items 0.94 and for Psychological Well-being items
0.92 (Heubeck & Neill, 2000).
RESULTS
In order to answer the question about the relationship between authenticity and
mental health a descriptive statistical analysis was conducted and Pearson correla-
tion coecients were calculated. As results showed that there were correlations, all
variables were included in the hierarchical regression analysis. A series of hierarchi-
cal regressions was conducted in which criterion variables were scores on the scales
Psychological distress and Psychological well-being and Mental health index, con-
trol variables were age and gender (Model 1), and predictive variables were all three
subscales on the Authenticity Scale – Authentic living (Model 2), Accepting exter-
nal inuence (Model 3) and Self-alienation (Model 4). Table 1 shows descriptive
indicators for all three factors on the Authenticity Scale and all factors on MHI-38.
Results of means on all subscales of the Authentic scale show high scores on the
subscale authentic living and moderate scores on Accepting external inuence and
Self-alienation (results theoretically range from min 4 to max 28 on each subscale).
This could indicate that participants as young adults know their motives, emotions
and thoughts, but still accept the inuence of others and have some feelings of self-
Grijak, D., Authenticity as a Predictor of Mental Health, Klinička psihologija 10 (2017), 1-2, 23-34
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alienation. According to the theoretical range of all subscales and general scales of
MHI-38, results could be interpreted as moderate psychological distress and high
psychological well-being of participants.
Values of Pearson correlation coecients between dimensions of authenticity
and dimensions of mental health are signicant. Results are shown in Table 2.
The results showed that the Authenticity Scale is in signicant correlation with
MHI-38 (p < 0.01). Subscale Authentic living is in signicant positive correlation
with psychological well-being (r = 0.21; p < 0.01) and signicant negative corre-
lation with psychological distress (r = -0.22; p < 0.01) and mental health index (r
= -0.23; p < 0.01). Subscale Accepting external inuence is in signicant positive
correlation with psychological distress (r = -0.35; p < 0.01) and mental health index
(r = -0.34; p < 0.01) and in signicant negative correlation with psychological well-
being (r = -0.25; p < 0.01). Subscale Self-Alienation is in signicant positive corre-
lation with psychological distress (r = 0.44; p < 0.01) and mental health index (r =
0.43; p < 0.01) and signicant negative correlation with psychological well-being
(r =-0.34; p < 0.01). Pearson correlation coecients imply negative correlations of
the subscale Authentic living to the subscales of Accepting external inuence and
Self-alienation (r = -0.278 and r = -0.214), and a positive correlation between the
second and third subscale (r = 0.652). All correlations are signicant at the level
of p < 0.01. These results could indicate that scale has two higher-order objects of
measurement. The one is Authentic living and the other is consisted of Accepting
external inuence and Self-alienation. Thus, the subscale Authentic living measures
adaptive authenticity and Accepting external inuence and the Self-alienation me-
Table 1. Descriptive statistics
N M SD Min Max
Authenticity
Scale
Authentic living 706 23.02 3.99 4 28
Accepting external inuence 706 11.46 4.81 4 28
Self-alienation 706 10.75 5.18 4 28
MHI-38
Psychological distress 706 60.36 19.23 24 137
Anxiety 706 22.81 7.05 8 48
Depression 706 8.81 3.47 4 23
Loss of behavioural/emotional
control 706 20.65 7.18 9 48
Psychological well-being 706 54.55 11.26 19 84
Overall positive aect 706 38.62 8.26 15 60
Emotional ties 706 7.99 2.62 2 12
Satisfaction with life 706 4.04 1.11 1 6
Mental health index 706 109.73 23.38 58 203
Note: M - Mean, SD - Standard deviation.
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Table 2. Pearson correlation coecients
AS
MHI – 38
Psychological distress Psychological well-being
MHI
123AD LC PD OPA ET SL PWB
1. AL 1 -0.27** -0.21** -0.19** -0.18** -0.24** -0.22** 0.19** 0.16** 0.14** 0.21** -0.23**
2. AEI -0.27** 1 0.65** 0.32** 0.32** 0.35** 0.35** -0.24** -0.12** -0.20** -0.25** 0.34**
3. SA -0.21** 0.65** 1 0.39** 0.38** 0.45** 0.44** -0.32** -0.23** -0.23** -0.34** 0.43**
Note: AL- Authentic living, AEI- Accepting external inuence, SA- Self-alienation, A- Anxiety, D – Depression, LC – Loss of control
over behaviour/emotional control, PD- Psychological distress, OPA – Overall positive aect, ET – Emotional ties, SL- Satisfaction with
life, PWB – Psychological well-being, MHI – Mental health index, ** p < 0.01
Grijak, D., Authenticity as a Predictor of Mental Health, Klinička psihologija 10 (2017), 1-2, 23-34
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asures maladaptive authenticity and this was their order in the analyses (Grijak,
2017).
Hierarchical regression analysis was used to check the assumption from previo-
us researches that authenticity is the most fundamental aspect of well-being (Wood
et al. 2008). A series of hierarchical regressions was conducted in which criterion
variables were scores on the scales Psychological distress and Psychological well-
being and Mental health index, control variables were age and gender (Model 1),
and all three subscales on the Authenticity Scale Authentic living as adaptive
authenticity (Model 2), Accepting external inuence as maladaptive authenticity
(Model 3) and Self-alienation as maladaptive authenticity (Model 4) were the pre-
dictors. The results are shown in Table 3.
The results of hierarchical regression analysis show that authenticity composed
of three dimensions (authentic living, accepting external inuence and self-alienati-
on) is a moderate predictor of psychological distress, psychological well-being and
mental health index (Model 4). Also, results showed that maladaptive authenticity
(Model 3 and Model 4 included measures of maladaptive authenticity – accepting
external inuence and self-alienation) is a better predictor than adaptive authenticity
(authentic living in Model 2) according to the explained variance of each.
Betas and semi-partial correlations for the regression analyses are shown in
Table 4.
Table 3. Hierarchical regression analysis
R2R2FF p βsr
PD
Model 1 0.010 - 1.06 - 0.349 - -
Model 2 0.018 0.007 1.207 1.49 0.223 0.086 0.086
Model 3 0.046 0.035 3.23 7.49 0.007 0.191 0.189
Model 4 0.143 0.133 11.22 31.23 0.000 0.364 0.366
PW
Model 1 0.009 - 0.894 - 0.411 - -
Model 2 0.018 0.009 1.21 1.84 0.177 0.095 0.095
Model 3 0.022 0.013 0.894 2.69 0.102 0.116 0.115
Model 4 0.112 0.103 8.51 23.53 0.000 0.322 0.323
MH
index
Model 1 0.004 - 0.42 - 0.657 - -
Model 2 0.013 0.009 0.907 1.877 0.172 0.096 0.096
Model 3 0.032 0.027 2.193 5.72 0.02 0.168 0.166
Model 4 0.138 0.134 10.76 31.301 0.00 0.366 0.366
Note: PD – psychological distress; PW – psychological well-being; MH index – Mental health in-
dex; Model 1 – age and gender; Model 2 – Authentic living; Model 3 – Accepting external inuen-
ce; Model 4 – Self-alienation; ΔR2 –change in the percent of the explained variance; ΔF - F test for
testing the signicance of the change in the percent of the explained variance.
Grijak, D., Authenticity as a Predictor of Mental Health, Klinička psihologija 10 (2017), 1-2, 23-34
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Results conrm the value of authenticity as a composite of three dimensions in
the prediction of psychological distress, psychological well-being and mental health
index (Model 4).
DISCUSSION
This research aimed to evaluate the relationship between dimensions of authen-
ticity – authentic living, accepting external inuence and self-alienation and mental
health measured through dimensions of psychological distress (Anxiety, Depressi-
on, Loss of Behavioural/Emotional Control) and psychology well-being (General
Positive Aect, Emotional Ties, Life Satisfaction) on a sample of students (N =
706). Based on previous theoretical and empirical discussions, it is expected that
results would show that high authentic living, low acceptance of external inuence
and low self-alienation (authentic person) is positively correlated with psychologi-
cal well-being and negatively correlated with psychological distress (high psycho-
logical well-being and low psychological distress characterize a mentally healthy
person). Overall results conrmed these expectations and conrmed that authenti-
city is closely connected to mental health.
Correlations between the Authenticity Scale and MHI-38 are in accordance with
the theoretical expectations (Wood et al., 2008). All subscales of the Authenticity
Scale are in correlation with psychological distress, psychological well-being and
mental health index (mental health index value indicates high scores on one gene-
ral scale and low scores on the other general scale – i.e., high value of MHI shows
Table 4. Betas and semi-partial correlations between authenticity factors and outcome
variables in full hierarchical regression model (Model 2, Model 3, Model 4)
β sr
PD
Model 2 0.086 0.086
Model 3 0.191* 0.189
Model 4 0.364** 0.366
PW
Model 2 0.095 0.095
Model 3 0.116 0.115
Model 4 0.322** 0.323
MH
index
Model 2 0.096 0.096
Model 3 0.168* 0.166
Model 4 0.366** 0.366
Model 2, Model 3 and Model 4 variables (see Table 3).
*β signicant at p < 0.05.
**β signicant at p < 0.01.
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high scores on the scale of psychological well-being, and low scores on the scale of
psychological distress). Authentic living as an aspect of authenticity is dened as
coordination between perceived experience and behaviour, i.e. coordination of be-
haviour and expressing emotions with actual psychological states, beliefs and tho-
ughts. Results show that overall positive aect, emotional ties and satisfaction with
life positively correlate with honesty to oneself and living in accordance with one’s
values and beliefs (authentic living). Also, with higher sorrow, disappointment, des-
pair, anxiety, diculties in relationships with others and lack of interest is expec-
ted lower authentic living. Accepting external inuence has a positive correlation
with psychological distress and mental health index and a negative correlation with
psychological well-being. This aspect of authenticity involves the belief that one
needs to conform to the expectations of others, and a reason for this result may be
found in the fact that the participants were young people who, developmentally spe-
aking, are more authentic when their self is being accepted by other people (Harter
et al., 1996; Ne & Harter, 2002). Self-alienation has a signicant positive correla-
tion with psychological distress and mental health index and a signicant negative
correlation with psychological well-being. The results are as expected, given that
this aspect of authenticity, self-alienation, is dened as a mismatch between the con-
scious awareness (experience represented in the cognitive sphere) and actual expe-
rience (the true self, including actual psychological states, emotions and beliefs).
The results of hierarchical regression analysis conrmed the values of the corre-
lations and showed that authenticity composed of three dimensions – authentic
living, accepting external inuence and self-alienation explain 14.3% of psycholo-
gical distress, 11.2% of psychological well-being and 13.8% of mental health index.
We can also very cautiously conclude from the results of hierarchical regression
analysis that authentic living, as adaptive authenticity had no predictive power of
mental health (included in Model 2), but dimensions of maladaptive authenticity –
Accepting external inuence (included in Model 2) and Self-alienation (included
in Model 4) were statistically signicant predictors of psychological distress and
mental health index. Finally, we can conclude that authenticity is only one of the
positive predictors of mental health.
Limitations of this research might relate to the sample of participants. Size of
the sample (N = 706) might have caused variations in results and also inuenced
the nal result on the predictive value of authenticity. Further, regarding the gender
structure of the sample, there were 76.5% females and this could have inuenced
the overall results.
Suggestions for further researches relate to the sample (size and gender
structure), whereby it would be signicant to evaluate the same relation between
authenticity and mental health in early age and in middle and older age groups. It
would also be signicant to evaluate the connection of additional variables with
mental health. As the results showed that authenticity explains only 11-14% of
variance of mental health, further research should include other variables as other
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personality traits into analysing what else, together with authenticity, predicts
mental health.
CONCLUSION
This research is important because until now, within the realm of psychological
counselling, it was only assumed that authenticity is the most fundamental aspect
of mental health, without having an empirical conrmation of that relation (Wood
et al., 2008).
The conrmation that authenticity is closely connected to mental health and
signicantly contributes to it is a good example of how classic perspectives in
psychological counselling can set further directions of research within personality
psychology.
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AUTENTIČNOST KAO PREDIKTOR MENTALNOG ZDRAVLJA
Sažetak
Cilj ovog istraživanja bio je procijeniti odnos između autentičnosti i mentalnog
zdravlja na uzorku od 706 studenata. Rezultati su pokazali da su sve subskale Skale
autentičnosti (autentični život, prihvaćanje vanjskog utjecaja i samootuđenje) kore-
lirane sa svim skalama i subskalama na MHI-38 (skala psihološki distres – subskale
tjeskoba, depresija, gubitak kontrole ponašanja/emocionalne kontrole; skala psihička
dobrobit - ukupni pozitivni afekt, emocionalne veze i zadovoljstvo životom; i ukupni
indeks mentalnog zdravlja). Hijerarhijska regresijska analiza je pokazala da su svi
čimbenici autentičnosti zajedno statistički značajni prediktori psihološkog distresa,
psihičke dobrobiti i ukupnog mentalnog zdravlja indeksa. Potvrda da je autentičnost
povezana s mentalnim zdravljem i da mu značajno doprinosi dobar je primjer kako
klasične perspektive u psihološkom savjetovanju mogu postaviti daljnje smjernice
istraživanja u okviru psihologije ličnosti.
Ključne riječi: autentičnost, mentalno zdravlje, studenti
... Integrating lived experience in professional roles is related to being an authentic version of the self. Research into authenticity suggests that when we are authentic it is better for our health and wellbeing (Grijak, 2017) providing support for the benefits of lived experience roles. ...
... The focus group members in the current study displayed a motivation to integrate lived Grijak, (2017) suggests that being an authentic version of the self is beneficial to mental health. ...
Thesis
Full-text available
There is an exponential growth in lived experience work in the field of mental health, education, and research. Those in lived experience roles are people with personal experience of services and disabilities that use their experiences to help inform service provision that better meets the needs of other service users. The lead researcher has engaged in this type of work herself and noted that it made a profound impact on her identity. However, the current theoretical framework on identity including social identities and role identities, do not account for identities that span service user and service provider, as they are typically considered binary and oppositional. Therefore, this thesis aimed to explore and give greater clarity to the identities within this sector, how they can work together more effectively, and to better support the process of lived experience work. To explore this, Study 1, a systematic review of the literature was conducted to understand the identities of lived experience researchers and providers. The EMERGES framework was developed, encompassing, Empowerment, Motivation, Empathy of the self and others, Recovery model and medical model, Growth and transformation, Exclusion and Survivor roots, factors influencing identity. The findings suggested that identity in the field of clinical psychology was under researched, providing the rationale to study the collective identity of clinical psychology training and its subgroups of Experts by Experience, Expert Carers, Trainee Clinical Psychologists and Experts by Qualification in separate focus groups in Study 2, to observe how their identities were socially constructed. It was hypothesized that the process of identification between trainees and their trainers would be influenced by individual differences in mental health and professional identities and personality differences which was tested in Study 3, a pilot study. Quantitative methods were used to understand how trainee clinical psychologists identified with these trainers. An in-group identification measure for trainee clinical psychologists was tested for reliability and validity. The study found three factors of cognitive, affective, and evaluative identification. Study 4, a preliminary study, gathered findings from across the thesis to understand lived experience researchers' needs from supervision using Q methodology. Three types of lived experience researchers were found, the first focused on developing their skills, identity, growth, and empowerment, the second focused on understanding their relational and emotional link to the research, and the third focused on support to navigate personal and professional identities in practical and emotional ways. Together these studies provide insight into the identities in mental health, education, and research and ways to forward lived experience work.
... Authenticity as core cause of mental well-being has recently been examined in various cultures, although, all studies have relied on college or community samples. Research that specifically utilized the authenticity scale by Wood et al. (2008) has shown negative associations with psychological distress, negative affect (depression and anxiety), perceived stress, psychological vulnerability, self-handicapping behavior, and aggression (Akin & Akin, 2014;Boyraz & Kuhl, 2015;Grijak, 2017;Pinto et al., 2012;Satici et al., 2013;Wood et al., 2008), as opposed to positive association with life satisfaction, positive affect, self-esteem, unconditional positive self-regard and general well-being (e.g., Grégoire et al., 2014;Pillow et al., 2017;Wood et al., 2008). Additionally, there is some evidence that trait authenticity is moderated by culture (Robinson et al., 2012;Slabu et al., 2014) and predicts positive mental health more strongly than context-specific authenticity measures. ...
... These arguments and findings may also help explain why authentic living and accepting external influence were not found to be relevant predictors of distress. Additionally, although previous studies have provided correlational evidence on the association between these two dimensions and negative affect or distress in community samples (Grégoire et al., 2014;Grijak, 2017;Wood et al., 2008), one study using path analysis (Stevens, 2016) has not found significant relationships between these dimensions and affective functioning. Therefore, further cross-cultural examinations of the tripartite model are needed as well as more nuanced insights into the relative contribution of each component to the utility of the model. ...
Article
Full-text available
Several counselling psychology perspectives have argued that authenticity should be the primary goal of treatment, while defining alienation from the self as the root cause of distress and psychopathological suffering. Recent findings have provided evidence that the tripartite model of dispositional authenticity based on Rogers’ person-centered theory can predict mental well-being. Considering the lack of research in clinical samples, this study examined the unique predictive utility of trait authenticity for distress in outpatients seeking counselling (N = 105, 58% female; age range: 18-65) and demographically matched controls (N = 102, 62% female; age range: 18-52 years). Most of the outpatients were diagnosed with anxiety and/or mood disorders, while the controls were screened for utilization of mental health services. Results revealed higher self-alienation and acceptance of external influence in the clinical sample, as well as higher neuroticism and symptomatic and overall distress relative to controls. Only self-alienation was able to account for unique variance in clinical distress in outpatients, above and beyond neuroticism, reaffirming the assumption that the greater the discrepancy between actual experiences and their symbolization, the greater the risk of psychological dysfunction. The findings further revealed a differentiated role of self-alienation relative to the severity of experienced distress and a need to examine causal links with neuroticism. Implications regarding clinical practice and the measurement of authenticity as treatment outcome are discussed.
... Some concealable stigmatized identities are more prevalent than others; for example, approximately 45% of adults living in the United States have at least one chronic disease (Raghupathi & Raghupathi, 2018), 21% have a mental illness (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration [SAMSA], 2019), and 6% identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (Jones, 2021). Authenticity (i.e., acting and living in congruence with one's true or core self; Goldman & Kernis, 2002) and belonging (i.e., feeling connected and integral within a given system; Allen et al., 2021) are both described as fundamental human needs that are influential in a range of intrapersonal and interpersonal processes including self-esteem, mental health, and satisfaction with work, life, and relationships (Grijak, 2017;Mellor et al., 2008;Sutton, 2020). Uncoincidentally, identity concealment (i.e., using strategies to avoid identity detection; Camacho et al., 2020) is associated with negative work-related outcomes, poorer mental health, and lower quality of life (Newheiser et al., 2017;Pachankis et al., 2020;Quinn et al., 2017). ...
Article
Full-text available
Identity concealment thwarts psychological needs of authenticity and belonging, both of which are important for mental health and relationship building. Through the lens of minority stress theory and relational–cultural theory, the present study examined whether identity concealment in the workplace by psychology trainees is indirectly associated with greater burnout and poorer therapeutic relationship quality. To test this hypothesis, a parallel mediation analysis was conducted on data from 335 clinical and counseling psychology doctoral trainees with concealable stigmatized identities using Hayes’s (2018) PROCESS macro. As expected, identity concealment at a practicum or internship site was negatively associated with authenticity and belonging, both of which were negatively associated with burnout and positively associated with therapeutic relationship quality. Furthermore, identity concealment was associated with lower therapeutic relationship quality and greater burnout indirectly through lower authenticity and lower belonging. Findings suggest trainees who engage in more identity concealment at their clinical training sites may be at increased risk for burnout and poorer relationships with clients due to limited opportunities for authenticity and belonging. Future research is encouraged to longitudinally examine the impact of identity concealment on professional burnout and relationships, as well as potential protective factors. Such knowledge can support the development of interventions and policies that foster safer, more welcoming work environments for trainees with concealable stigmatized identities.
... Integrating lived experience in professional roles is related to being an authentic version of the self. Research into authenticity suggests that when we are authentic it is better for our health and wellbeing [66], providing support for the benefits of lived experience roles. ...
Article
Full-text available
Background Identity is how we understand ourselves and others through the roles or social groups we occupy. This review focuses on lived experience researchers and providers and the impact of these roles on identity. Lived experience researchers and providers use their lived experience of mental or physical disability either as experts by experience, researchers, peer workers, or mental health professionals with lived experience. They must navigate both professional and personal aspects to their roles which can be complex. Performing roles simultaneously embodying professional and lived experiences contribute towards a lack of clarity to identity. This is not adequately explained by the theoretical evidence base for identity. Main body This systematic review and narrative synthesis aimed to provide a conceptual framework to understand how identity of lived experience researchers and providers is conceptualised. A search strategy was entered into EBSCO to access Academic search complete, CINAHL, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Psych Articles, and Connected papers. Out of the 2049 yielded papers, thirteen qualitative papers were eligible and synthesised, resulting in a conceptual framework. Five themes explained identity positions: Professional, Service user, Integrated, Unintegrated and Liminal. The EMERGES framework, an original conception of this review, found themes of: Enablers and Empowerment, Motivation, Empathy of the self and others, Recovery model and medical model, Growth and transformation, Exclusion and Survivor roots contributed to lived experience researcher and provider identities. Conclusions The EMERGES framework offers a novel way to understand the identities of lived experience researchers and providers, helping support effective team working in mental health, education, and research settings. Keywords Lived experience, Service user, Service provider, Identity, Mental health, Research, Involvement, Conceptual framework, Systematic review, Narrative review
... Other research has found similar reliability values regarding MHI-38. Grijak (2017) obtained internal consistency of α = 0.81 for psychological distress, and α = 0.75 for psychological well-being. ...
... Also, Tracy et al. (2009), who investigated the effect of authentic and arrogance on self-esteem and narcissistic characteristics, found that people with high self-esteem along with authenticity had successful social relationships and positive mental health, while those with high narcissistic levels along with arrogance, exhibited aggression and other anti-social behaviors. Another striking research in the literature by Grijak (2017) is the investigation of the relationship between authenticity and mental health consisting of many components. In this research, the authenticity scale developed by Wood et al. (2008) was used. ...
Article
Full-text available
Examining the mediating role of meaning in the effect of will on authenticity in adults is the purpose of this study. The sample is a total number of 289 adults. The correlation between will, authenticity and meaning was examined in SPSS 22. A positive relationship was found between will and personal meaning, between will and pure authenticity, between personal meaning and pure authenticity. The model was tested using AMOS to examine role of meaning in the effect of will on authenticity. It has been seen that the meaning in the effect of the will on authenticity has a mediating role.
... Yet, as individuals, people also strive for authenticity, defined as 'the unobstructed operation of one's true or core self in one's daily enterprise' (Goldman & Kernis, 2002, p. 18). Belongingness and authenticity are often described as universal fundamental needs that motivate behaviour, improve well-being, and increase satisfaction in life and relationships (Grijak, 2017;Lavigne et al., 2011;Mellor et al., 2008;Slepian & Jacoby-Senghor, 2021;Sutton, 2020). Unfortunately, for individuals who are not heterosexual or cisgender, or are othered because of a socially devalued identity status, social belonging and personal authenticity may be difficult to attain and often conflict due to stigmatising social structures Newheiser & Barreto, 2014;Riggle et al., 2017;Rood et al., 2017). ...
Article
Full-text available
Sexual and gender minoritized (SGM) elders who have lost or expect to lose a partner or loved one are at elevated risk for experiencing hidden or disenfranchised grief due to historical and current stigmatizing social structures that lead to identity concealment. Identity concealment is associated with a range of negative health (e.g., depression, anxiety) and psychosocial (e.g., social isolation, lower sense of belonging) outcomes that may adversely affect one’s ability to cope with and recover from loss, yet little is known about the association between identity concealment and complicated grief. Guided by two empirically supported, complementary frameworks (i.e., minority stress theory and relational-cultural theory), this theoretical review increases understanding and awareness of identity concealment as a risk factor for complicated grief and other poor bereavement outcomes among SGM elders, with special consideration for intersections of gerodiversity. Such knowledge can help health professionals, policymakers, and other agents of change develop culturally responsive interventions that foster social, psychological, and physical well-being among bereaved SGM elders.
Article
This article attempts to understand the concept of psychological authenticity, identifies gaps in the literature, and emphasizes its significance in the Indian context. Studies on authenticity in global and Indian contexts were reviewed for this purpose and the multifacetedness of the concept was specifically highlighted. A comparison of Indian and Western accounts of authenticity shows that Indian researchers are more prescriptive while defining the authentic self than their Western counterparts, who have provided descriptive accounts of authenticity. Sociocultural factors impact authenticity, but whether they enrich or hinder authenticity across contexts is unclear. Factors such as fear of negative evaluation or the need for belongingness are expected to impact the expression of authenticity at the behavioral level in the unique sociocultural context of India. Considering context-specific factors, the process of becoming authentic is more central to understanding authenticity than perceiving it as an end state of being. This discussion shows that authenticity as a construct is yet to be adequately explored globally, as well as in the Indian sociocultural context. Future research on authenticity holds great promise in areas related to mental health and personality.
Article
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Authenticity is an indicator of psychological well-being. Until recently, studies on this construct has been scarce. This study aimed to fill this gap by culturally adapting a Sinhala version of the Authenticity Scale and using it o examine authenticity and selected demographic correlates among Sri Lankan undergraduates. The Sinhala version of the Authenticity Scale showed favourable psychometric properties. The survey results on 1235 Sri Lankan undergraduates indicate that this group is comparable to their counterparts in some dimensions of authenticity. The results also indicate that women report higher authenticity than men. Implications of this study are discussed, whilst emphasising the need to take into account variations that may occur in relation to authenticity in demographic factors such as gender.
Article
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The aim of this study, conducted at two time points, was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Serbian translation of the Authenticity Scale on the sample of students. The paper presents the results of testing the validity construct of the Authenticity Scale by confirmatory factor analysis at two time points, on the initial sample of 706 students and on the test-retest sample of 206 students within a 10-week interval. The model in which there are three separate, mutually related dimensions with the superordinate factor of authenticity best describes the scale structure. The test-retest sample was used to test the convergent validity of the Authenticity Scale by evaluating its relation to the measures of both positive and negative affect, self-esteem, psychological distress and psychological well-being and mental health index. The results showed that the Serbian translation of the Authenticity Scale represents a reliable and valid measure of authenticity.
Article
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Background The objectives of the study were to explore a self-report measure for psychological well-being and to investigate the relationship between psychological well-being and psychological distress. Method Telephone interviews of a representative sample of adults (N = 1933) collected information about sociodemographic variables, a standardised measure of psychological distress, and three brief existing scales to assess aspects of psychological well-being: Positive Relations with Others, Environmental Mastery, and Satisfaction with Life. The total of these three scales was also computed and explored as a measure of overall well-being. Results Variables positively associated with psychological well-being were negatively associated with psychological distress and vice versa. For example low psychological well-being and high psychological distress were associated with being the only adult in the household, speaking a language other than English at home, being divorced or separated, having no educational qualifications beyond secondary school, being unable to work, having a low income, renting one’s accommodation, and receiving a pension. Conclusions The measure of well-being shows psychometric promise for community surveys. Psychological well-being is not exactly the opposite end of the continuum to psychological distress, but more debate is needed about whether and when, research participants need to be asked questions about both.
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In this article, we examined the psychometric properties of a French translation of the Authenticity Scale created by A. M. Wood, P. A. Linley, J. Maltby, M. Baliousis, and S. Joseph (2008, The authentic personality: A theoretical and empirical conceptualization and the development of the authenticity scale, Journal of Counseling Psychology, 55, 385–399). In the first study (N = 188), we assessed the reliability of this translation as well as its construct validity and discriminant validity from the Big Five personality traits. In the second study (N = 437), we conducted a confirmatory factor analysis to confirm the factorial structure found in Study 1 and the factorial structure obtained by Wood et al. (2008). The results show that the psychometric properties of the French Authenticity Scale are comparable to those of the original English version. The scale has both good scale score reliability (α = .77 to .82) and temporal stability over an 8-week period (r = .54 to .69). It is based on a three-factor solution explaining 60% of the variance. The scale shows discriminant validity from the Big Five personality traits and is related to both subjective and psychological well-being. This article provides a valid and reliable instrument in French that measures dispositional authenticity and will be useful to clinicians, counselors, and researchers
Article
Authenticity essentially is an encounter attitude. In the context of the anthropological meaning of 'person' from a dialogical perspective, it designates a human being as the genuine author of his or her relationships, both to him- or herself (openness) and to other persons (transparency). Being authentic is a precondition to enter dialogue — the way of communicating between persons where the other is truly acknowledged as an Other (in the sense of encounter philosophy), who is opening up, revealing him- or herself. Thus, in an epistemological perspective, it is the foundation of personal and facilitative communication. From an ethical point of view, authenticity is the response-ability which answers the call to respond to another person's needs, whether in therapy, or in any personal relationship. To be authentic is a particular challenge, if we take account of the idea that in practice there is not one (idealistic) 'I-Thou- relationship', but rather that relationships are always embedded in groups, and in society as a whole. This also implies the need for applying judgement to find one's own stance and at the same time acknowledging each as an autonomous being. In this way, the 'We-perspective' of encounter, and presence in the dialectical play of 'being-with' and 'being-counter', is opened up with profound therapeutic, social and political consequences.
Article
Discusses the issue of why authentic self behavior and its converse become so salient during adolescence, when the search for the true self is of paramount concern, is first discussed. I then turn to those developmental factors in childhood and adolescence that foster true self, vs false self, behavior. I next shift to why we should care about authenticity. Thereafter, I return to the issue of whether authenticity can survive give the need to create multiple selves in adolescence and adulthood. Finally, I will end the chapter with a treatment of several implications for interventions to promote greater authenticity and its associated psychological benefits. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Article
In this study we examined how men and women typically resolve conflicts with relationship partners (by meeting the self's need, the other's need, or through compromise) and the authenticity of resolutions and their relation to psychological health. Data were collected using a questionnaire given to 251 men and 251 women (aged 18–75 yrs) who were in heterosexual relationships. Results showed that most women (but not men) who resolved conflicts by meeting their partners' needs rather than their own thought that this was inauthentic behavior that they adopted to avoid negative repercussions from their partners. For all participants, inauthenticity and a lack of partner validation was linked to poorer psychological health. Results suggest that women's other-oriented relationship behavior does not necessarily stem from the authentic self.