Description:
A 12-item measure of one’s tendency to disclose (versus conceal) personally distressing information across time and situations.
References:
Kahn, J. H., & Hessling, R. M. (2001). Measuring the tendency to conceal versus disclose psychological distress. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 20(1), 41–65. https://doi.org/10.1521/jscp.20.1.41.22254
Kahn, J. H.. Hucke, B. E., Bradley, A. M., Glinski, A. J., & Malak, B. L. (2012). The Distress Disclosure Index: A research review and multitrait-multimethod examination. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 59(1), 134–149. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0025716
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Please read each of the following items carefully. Indicate the extent to which you agree or disagree with each item according to the rating scale below:
1 2 3 4 5
Strongly Disagree Strongly Agree
1. When I feel upset, I usually confide in my friends.
2. I prefer not to talk about my problems.
3. When something unpleasant happens to me, I often look for someone to talk to.
4. I typically don’t discuss things that upset me.
5. When I feel depressed or sad, I tend to keep those feelings to myself.
6. I try to find people to talk with about my problems.
7. When I am in a bad mood, I talk about it with my friends.
8. If I have a bad day, the last thing I want to do is talk about it.
9. I rarely look for people to talk with when I am having a problem.
10. When I’m distressed I don’t tell anyone.
11. I usually seek out someone to talk to when I am in a bad mood.
12. I am willing to tell others my distressing thoughts.
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Scoring:
Reverse score items 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10. Then sum the 12 items. Higher scores indicate a higher tendency to disclose distress, lower scores indicate greater concealment of distress.