The Self‐Ambivalence Measure: A psychometric investigation

Figures & data

Figure 1. CFA of Bhar and Kyrios' two‐factor hypothesised model.

Figure 2. CFA of Bhar and Kyrios' amended two‐factor hypothesised model.

Table 1. Factor analytic solution for the SAM (n = 415)

Item		Factor
		1	2	3
Factor 1—Self‐worth ambivalence
4	I have mixed feelings about my self‐worth^a	.78	.08	.05
2	I tend to move from one extreme to the other in how I think about myself^a	.69	.15	.04
5	I feel that I am full of contradictions^a	.67	.21	−.04
3	I question the extent to which others want to be close to me^a	.64	.07	.11
1	I feel torn between different parts of my personality^a	.60	.09	.01
8	I doubt whether others really like me^a	.53	.17	.21
11	I am secure in my sense of self‐worth (reversed)^a	.49	.01	−.14
10	I constantly worry about whether I will make anything in my life^a	.44	.27	.13
6	I think about my worth as a person^a	.38	.23	.16
Factor 2—Moral ambivalence
18	I question whether I am morally a good or bad person^b	−.01	.95	.00
16	I question whether I am a moral person^b	.00	.86	.00
19	I am constantly concerned about whether I am a ‘decent’ human being^b	.15	.73	.06
17	I tend to think of myself in terms of categories such as ‘good’ or ‘bad’^b	.25	.60	.06
15	I am constantly worried about whether I am a good or bad person^b	.21	.59	.20
20	If I inadvertently allow harm to come to others, this proves I am untrustworthy^b	.21	.37	.14
Factor 3—Public self‐consciousness
14	I am mindful about how I come across to others^a	−.00	.06	.79
13	When I am with others, I think about whether I look my best^c	−.04	.10	.70
7	I am constantly aware of how others perceive me^a	.27	.08	.54
12	I think about how I can improve myself^a	−.04	.04	.41
Deleted items
9	I fear I am capable of doing something terrible^a	.30	.33	.10
21	Essentially people like you or they don't; there is no middle ground^c	.27	.11	.05
Eigenvalue		8.66	1.78	1.52
%Variance explained		41.25	.58	7.25

^aAn item from Bhar's original Self‐worth Ambivalence factor. ^bAn item from Bhar's original Moral Ambivalence factor. ^cAn item omitted from Bhar's original two‐factor solution.

Table 2. Reliability coefficients, means, and standard deviations for the self scales (n = 415)

Scale	α	ω	ωh	M	SD
Self‐worth ambivalence total	–	.99	.67	31.45	16.19
Self‐worth ambivalence	–	.96	.56	13.76	8.17
Moral ambivalence	–	.01	.56	6.16	6.06
Public self‐consciousness	–	.95	.56	9.53	3.38
Self‐splitting	.88	–	–	22.33	7.39
Rumination	.92	–	–	41.26	10.21
Reflection	.90	–	–	40.35	9.53
Self‐concept clarity	.90	–	–	26.95	10.11
Trait anxiety inventory	.93	–	–	42.17	10.65
Padua Inventory‐revised	.93	–	–	21.64	18.06

Table 3. Zero‐order correlations between measures of self‐ambivalence, self scales, trait anxiety, and obsessive–compulsive symptoms (n = 415)

	Scale	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
1	Self‐worth ambivalence total	–	.91	.89	.67	.71	.67	ns	−.73	.69	.55
2	Self‐worth ambivalence		–	.65	.48	.75	.67	ns	−.78	.69	.47
3	Moral ambivalence			–	.49	.55	.51	ns	−.56	.52	.50
4	Public self‐consciousness				–	.43	.48	ns	−.40	.36	.41
5	Self‐splitting					–	.67	ns	−.88	.67	.39
6	Rumination						–	.19	−.65	.69	.39
7	Reflection							–	ns	ns	ns
8	Self‐concept clarity								–	−.68	−.38
9	Trait anxiety inventory									–	.42
10	Padua Inventory‐Revised										–

Note. Correlations were significant at an α level of .001 or less except where indicated as ns = nonsignificant.