Proximity of Clothing to Self: Evolution of a Concept

Abstract

Proximity of clothing to self is a multifaceted concept conceived as the psychological closeness of clothing to self and indicated by the extent to which clothing is (1) perceived as one with the self or as a component of the self, (2) recognized as an aspect of appearance by which the self is established and validated, (3) recognized as a significant symbol of one's identity, mood, or attitude, (4) perceived as an expression of self-regard or self-worth, (5) recognized as an element of an affective response to self-evaluation, or (6) related to body cathexis. Perceptions were obtained by asking 116 wives and 116 husbands to respond to an open-ended question regarding their reasons for feeling as they do about their clothing. A three-point rating scale, the first version o f the Proximity o f Clothing to Self Scale (hereafter cited as PCS Scale) was developed as an indicator o f the concept. Points on the PCS Scale were ordered and described by degree of agreement and explicitness of the perception of the six elements of proximity of clothing to self. Responses possessing one or more o f these six elements were assigned to one o f the three points on the PCS Scale by two trained coders and an arbiter. Intercoder reliability determined by two methods was .90 and .89. On the basis of this scaling procedure, four nominal groups were formed: high PCS women, high PCS men, low PCS women, and low PCS men. Affective evaluation of clothing and affective evaluation of self were separately measured using a seven-point Delighted- Terrible Scale. The correlation between these two variables was substantially higher for those scaled with high proximity of clothing to self than for those scaled with low proximity of clothing to self. This result lends construct validity to the PCS Scale as an indicator of proximity of clothing to self. Recommendations are made for refinement of the concept and the PCS Scale.

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