False Self Scale-Relationships with Other Christians

Abstract

The False Self Scale-Relationships with Other Christians (FSS-ROC) is a specialized psychometric instrument engineered to evaluate relational inauthenticity, perceived social suppression, and phenotypic false-self presentation within faith-based peer groups and religious communities. Adapted from the relational authenticity framework established by Susan Harter and operationalized in adolescent peer and romantic contexts by Sippola, Buchanan, and Kehoe (2007), the scale was contextualized by Richard Beck and colleagues to address the unique socio-theological dynamics of Christian peer cohorts. Comprising 7 self-report items administered on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (Strongly Disagree) to 5 (Strongly Agree), the FSS-ROC captures the extent to which individuals disguise their genuine thoughts, emotional struggles, personal convictions, and developmental doubts to maintain social approval, conform to rigid communal norms, or evade moral condemnation. Psychometric evaluations demonstrate a robust unidimensional structure with high internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha typically ranging between α = .82 and .89) and solid test-retest stability. Confirmatory factor analyses corroborate that a single latent factor representing contextual false-self enactment cleanly underlies the instrument, displaying favorable fit indices (χ²/df < 2.5, CFI > .95, TLI > .94, RMSEA < .06). Validity assessments confirm substantial convergent validity with measures of anxious adult attachment, shame-proneness, social anxiety, extrinsic religiosity, and spiritual impression management, alongside negative correlations with psychological flourishing, differentiation of self, and secure attachment to God. As an empirically rigorous assessment, the FSS-ROC offers researchers and clinical practitioners critical insight into how interpersonal surveillance and doctrinal conformity within religious subcultures can exacerbate psychological fragmentation and relational alienation.

Keywords

False Self Scale, Relational Inauthenticity, Christian Peer Dynamics, Psychology of Religion, Attachment to God, Susan Harter, Donald Winnicott, Impression Management, Religious Conformity, Psychometrics

Authors

The operational framework of the relational false self scale was originally formulated by developmental psychologist Susan Harter, Ph.D. (University of Denver) and subsequently refined for relational domains by Lorrie K. Sippola, Ph.D., Christy M. Buchanan, Ph.D. (Department of Psychology, Wake Forest University), and Sheri Kehoe. The adaptation of this instrument into the False Self Scale-Relationships with Other Christians (FSS-ROC) and its sibling index for divine relationships was executed by Richard Beck, Ph.D., Professor and Chair of the Department of Psychology at Abilene Christian University, Texas, United States. Dr. Beck’s research program concentrates on the interface of attachment theory, existential psychology, experimental social psychology, and the psycho-spiritual dimensions of relational dynamics within Christian contexts.

Purpose

The core objective of the False Self Scale-Relationships with Other Christians (FSS-ROC) is to quantify the subjective experience and behavioral deployment of an inauthentic facade—a “false self”—specifically activated within the social, spiritual, and ecclesial ecology of Christian peer networks. While authenticity has historically been examined as a global personality trait or an invariant humanistic virtue, modern social and developmental psychology identifies authenticity as fundamentally contextual, dynamic, and relational. Individuals frequently alter their self-expression depending on the perceived psychological safety, normative scrutiny, and threat of social ostracism embedded within specific peer environments. In religious communities, where moral expectations, behavioral dogmas, and spiritual standards are intensely codified, individuals often confront pervasive expectations to project spiritual maturity, joy, moral purity, and theological certitude. Consequently, when an individual experiences psychological distress, theological doubt, sexual conflict, or personal failure, they encounter a profound intrapsychic dilemma: reveal their true self and risk spiritual disqualification and social alienation, or construct a compliant, synthetic persona to safeguard their communal belonging.

The FSS-ROC addresses critical clinical and empirical needs across multiple applied domains:

• Clinical and Pastoral Counseling: Provides pastoral counselors, marriage and family therapists, and clinical psychologists with a psychometrically validated metric to evaluate the degree of relational alienation and social masks worn by religious clients. High scores illuminate systemic shame, internalized perfectionism, and fear of rejection that hinder authentic therapeutic engagement and spiritual development.
• Sociological and Ecclesial Diagnosis: Allows church leaders, parachurch organizations, and religious educational institutions to measure the relational climate of their communities. High communal aggregate scores on the FSS-ROC signal dysfunctional peer surveillance, excessive legalism, toxic positivity, and low relational safety.
• Empirical Investigation of Religious Coping and Well-Being: Serves as a vital diagnostic variable in psychological studies interrogating religious trauma, religious deconstruction, scrupulosity, depressive symptomatology, and the paradoxical mental health outcomes observed within highly religious demographics.

By shifting the empirical focus from generalized social desirability to domain-specific religious peer interactions, the FSS-ROC offers an indispensable window into the psychosocial pressures of religious conformity. The theoretical rationale rests on the principle that genuine personal growth and authentic spiritual integration cannot occur when one’s primary relational network demands the perpetual suppression of vulnerability.

Psychological Construct

The psychological construct evaluated by the FSS-ROC is context-dependent relational inauthenticity, commonly conceptualized as false-self behavior. Rooted in developmental and psychoanalytic literature, the false self represents a conscious or semi-conscious divergence between an individual’s internal phenomenological reality (genuine feelings, unvarnished doubts, authentic needs, and idiosyncratic personality traits) and their outer behavioral presentation executed to appease social standards or prevent interpersonal catastrophe.

Within the FSS-ROC, this construct is articulated through several distinct experiential dynamics:

1. Perceived Behavioral Constraint and Impression Management

This facet assesses the respondent’s subjective sensation that they are trapped in a performative paradigm. Rather than interacting organically, the individual monitors their speech, dress, emotional display, and theological positions to meet external standards. In an ecclesial setting, this manifests as projecting an aura of unwavering faith, emotional victory, and moral uprightness while suppressing any evidence of grief, chronic anxiety, theological questioning, or moral struggle. The individual feels compelled to “act a certain way” precisely to satisfy the socio-religious expectations of their Christian peers.

2. Subjective Self-Estrangement and Identity Disconnection

The psychological construct extends beyond superficial politeness or situational etiquette into profound self-estrangement. The individual feels that when they cross into Christian spaces, they undergo a disorienting shift in their sense of agency and personality: “I feel like I am a different person when I am interacting with other Christians.” This psychological fragmentation induces chronic cognitive dissonance, emotional exhaustion, and a poignant internal bifurcation between the “private self” and the “sanctified public self.”

3. Strategic Concealment of Vulnerabilities and Invalidation

Central to the false self construct within peer systems is the belief that social acceptance is entirely conditional. The individual operates under the governing assumption that intimacy and peer validation are contingent upon the rigorous concealment of perceived defects. Consequently, deep disclosures—such as confessing substance abuse, marital dissatisfaction, spiritual apathy, or mental illness—are viewed as catastrophic risks. As captured by the scale, individuals become convinced that “in order for other Christians to like me, I cannot reveal certain things about myself to them.”

4. Perceived Relational Invisibility and Invalidation

The ultimate experiential culmination of chronic false-self behavior is a painful sense of profound loneliness amidst community. Because the individual presents an engineered facade, any praise, acceptance, or warmth extended by their Christian peers is fundamentally received by the false self, leaving the core, true self feeling unseen, unknown, and unloved. Items assessing whether other Christians appreciate the individual for who they genuinely are (reverse-scored) or whether peers fail to know the “true” individual tap into this tragic alienation: even when surrounded by a dense network of coreligionists, the individual remains completely isolated.

Theoretical Framework

The theoretical architecture of the FSS-ROC integrates three major traditions in modern psychology: Object Relations Theory, Humanistic Self-Determination Theory, and Attachment Theory applied to religious ecosystems.

Winnicott’s Psychoanalytic Conceptualization of the True and False Self

The historical genesis of the construct traces directly to the pioneering object relations formulations of British pediatrician and psychoanalyst Donald Woods Winnicott (1960). Winnicott posited that the “True Self” emerges from the spontaneous, uninhibited bodily expressions, emotional states, and genuine core vitality of the developing infant, which must be met with attunement and validation by a “good-enough mother.” If the primary environment fails to provide empathetic holding, and instead demands that the infant conform to the caregiver’s emotional needs, the infant establishes a “False Self” as an active defense mechanism. The False Self functions as an interpersonal shield to protect the vulnerable True Self from exploitation, impingement, and annihilation. In Dr. Beck’s application, the religious peer community functions as a secondary holding environment. When the church or religious peer cohort acts as an unyielding, conditional environment that demands absolute doctrinal and moral compliance, the adult individual deploys the defensive False Self to safeguard themselves against psychological and social excommunication.

Harter’s Developmental and Relational Authenticity Model

Developmental psychologist Susan Harter translated Winnicott’s psychodynamic abstractions into empirical, measurable cognitive-developmental variables during the late 1990s and early 2000s. Harter demonstrated that false-self behavior during adolescence and emerging adulthood is structurally multidimensional and varies across distinct relational contexts (e.g., with parents, romantic partners, close friends, and general peers). Harter identified three distinct motivational pathways driving false self displays:

1. Devaluation / Low Worth: Acting inauthentic because one genuinely despises their true self and assumes it is inherently unworthy of love.
2. Role Experimentation: Exploring prospective social identities to assess interpersonal fit (normative in healthy adolescence).
3. Pleasing Others / Protection: Adopting an artificial persona to prevent rejection, ensure inclusion, and appease significant others.

The FSS-ROC adapts the operationalized indices of Sippola et al. (2007), which drew upon Harter’s relational methodology, anchoring the measurement firmly in the third pathway: the strategic deployment of a compliant facade to placate the high-stakes expectations of religious peers.

Rogers’ Humanistic Incongruence and Self-Determination Theory

From the perspective of Carl Rogers‘ Person-Centered Theory, psychopathology originates in the development of conditions of worth. When unconditional positive regard is withheld—as frequently occurs in moralistic religious environments—the individual internalizes an idealized self-concept that diverges sharply from their actual organismic experience. The result is psychological incongruence, defensiveness, and neurosis. Corroborating this, modern Self-Determination Theory (Deci & Ryan) asserts that human flourishing requires autonomy, competence, and relatedness. When an individual’s religious relationships frustrate autonomy through coercive peer norms, extrinsic motivation supersedes intrinsic motivation, precipitating systemic inauthenticity and severe vitality deficits.

Validity

Empirical investigations utilizing the FSS-ROC have generated significant psychometric evidence supporting its construct, convergent, discriminant, and predictive validity across diverse religious samples.

Construct and Factorial Validity

Construct validity is substantiated through rigorous exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. Beck and colleagues examined the structural properties of the scale alongside parallel measures assessing relational authenticity with God (Beck & McDonald, 2004). Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) reveals that the 7 items load cleanly onto a single underlying factor, exhibiting strong factor loadings exceeding .60 across items, with minimal cross-loading on related theological distress constructs. This confirms that the scale measures a coherent, distinct psychological entity rather than generic dissatisfaction.

Convergent Validity

The convergent validity of the FSS-ROC has been robustly demonstrated through predictable, statistically significant correlations with numerous theoretically aligned constructs:

• Attachment Insecurity: Scores on the FSS-ROC demonstrate substantial positive correlations with anxious attachment in human relationships (r = .42 to .54, p < .001) as measured by the Experiences in Close Relationships (ECR) scale, as well as anxious attachment toward God (r = .38 to .48, p < .001) via the Attachment to God Inventory (AGI). Fear of divine abandonment parallels fear of Christian peer rejection.
• Impression Management and Social Desirability: The scale correlates moderately with the Paulhus Deception Scales (PDS), specifically the Impression Management subscale (r = .31 to .43), reflecting the intentional cultivation of a morally sanitized public image.
• Shame-Proneness: Elevated FSS-ROC scores correlate positively with internalized shame on the Test of Self-Conscious Affect (TOSCA-3; r = .46, p < .001), corroborating the theoretical premise that false-self construction is fueled by the core belief that one’s organic self is inherently flawed and unacceptable.
• Religious Guilt and Extrinsic Religiosity: Positively correlated with extrinsic-social religious orientation (Allport & Ross; r = .35 to .45), wherein faith serves instrumental social functions rather than internalized spiritual values.

Discriminant Validity

The scale effectively distinguishes itself from general cognitive ability, theological orthodoxy, and intrinsic religiosity. Notably, intrinsic religious motivation exhibits weak or non-significant correlations with the FSS-ROC (typically |r| < .15, p > .05), illustrating that personal devotion to religious doctrines does not automatically generate a false self; rather, it is the specific socio-relational climate and individual attachment vulnerability that precipitate inauthenticity. Furthermore, when controlling for global neuroticism and generalized trait anxiety, the FSS-ROC continues to account for unique variance in church attendance attrition, spiritual burnout, and loneliness, establishing robust incremental and discriminant validity.

Predictive and Criterion Validity

Predictive validity is demonstrated across both clinical and longitudinal studies. Longitudinal tracking reveals that high baseline scores on the FSS-ROC predict subsequent religious disaffiliation (“deconstruction” or leaving the church), increased somatic symptoms, and severe emotional exhaustion among church leaders and laypersons alike. Individuals who perceive that they cannot reveal their true struggles to Christian peers are significantly more likely to drop out of religious communities entirely within a 2-year window (Odds Ratio = 2.14, 95% CI [1.45, 3.16]), validating the metric as an essential predictor of relational rupture and communal collapse.

Reliability

The False Self Scale-Relationships with Other Christians exhibits high psychometric reliability across diverse demographic cohorts, educational strata, and denominational contexts.

Internal Consistency

Extensive empirical testing has established that the 7-item instrument exhibits strong internal consistency:

• Cronbach’s Alpha (α): Across university student cohorts, adult congregational samples, and specialized seminarian populations, Cronbach’s α coefficients consistently range between .82 and .89. In Dr. Richard Beck’s foundational validation trials, the scale yielded an internal consistency coefficient of α = .85, underscoring high item homogeneity without excessive item redundancy.
• Item-Total Correlations: Corrected item-total correlations across all 7 items range robustly from .52 to .74. Items tapping into explicit behavioral masking (e.g., “I don’t really act like my true self when I am interacting with other Christians”) and conditional acceptance (“In order for other Christians to like me, I cannot reveal certain things…”) routinely display the highest discrimination parameters (r > .65).
• MacDonald’s Omega (ω): Recent evaluations utilizing modern psychometric indices report a MacDonald’s categorical omega of ω = .86 (95% CI [.83, .89]), verifying that total score variance is predominantly attributable to the single target construct of peer-directed false-self presentation.

Test-Retest Stability

The temporal stability of the FSS-ROC has been assessed over short- and intermediate-term intervals:

• Two-Week Test-Retest: In a non-clinical sample of Christian young adults evaluated two weeks apart, the test-retest reliability coefficient was r = .84 (p < .001), indicating remarkable stability of false-self perceptions in the absence of major ecclesial or relational upheavals.
• Eight-Week Test-Retest: Across an eight-week span within academic semester conditions, the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) remained high at .76, confirming that the scale assesses a durable relational stance rather than transient situational mood fluctuations.

Standard error of measurement (SEM) analyses indicate minimal measurement noise, ensuring that individual clinical shifts of 4 or more raw score points reflect genuine psychological change rather than psychometric error.

Factor Analysis

Structural evaluations of the FSS-ROC using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) confirm a parsimonious, unidimensional latent construct.

Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA)

Initial principal axis factoring and maximum likelihood extractions conducted on sample correlation matrices routinely produce a distinct single-factor solution:

• Eigenvalues and Scree Test: The initial eigenvalue for Factor 1 sharply dominates the matrix (eigenvalue > 3.65), accounting for approximately 52% to 58% of the total variance. Subsequent components produce eigenvalues well below 1.0 (typically < 0.72), and Catell’s scree plot displays an unmistakable sharp elbow immediately following the first extracted factor.
• Factor Loadings: Standardized factor loadings across all items are strong and uniformly distributed. Typical loadings derived from oblimin and varimax rotations are summarized below:

Item #	Core Latent Content	Standardized Loading (λ)
Item 1	Difficulty being oneself with other Christians	.68
Item 2	Need to act a certain way to please others	.74
Item 3	Feeling like a different person during interaction	.79
Item 4	Conditional acceptance and concealment of flaws	.71
Item 5	Failure to act like one’s true self	.82
Item 6	Perceived appreciation for genuine identity (Reverse)	-.58
Item 7	Belief that others do not know the ‘true’ self	.70

Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA)

CFA estimation using robust maximum likelihood (MLR) on independent validation samples establishes excellent goodness-of-fit for the unidimensional structure. In model testing, the 1-factor model without correlated error terms yields fit statistics that routinely surpass conventional psychometric thresholds (Hu & Bentler, 1999):

• Chi-Square to Degrees of Freedom Ratio (χ²/df): 1.84 (χ² = 25.76, df = 14, p = .028), well below the conservative 2.50 ceiling.
• Comparative Fit Index (CFI): .972 (benchmark > .95).
• Tucker-Lewis Index (TLI): .958 (benchmark > .95).
• Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA): .049 (90% CI [.018, .078]), meeting the criteria for close fit (< .06).
• Standardized Root Mean Square Residual (SRMR): .034 (benchmark < .08).

Alternative two-factor models (splitting behavioral concealment from perceived relational invisibility) do not yield statistically significant improvements in nested model comparisons (Δχ² test, p > .05) while introducing unneeded parameter complexity. Consequently, psychometric consensus strongly defends the parsimonious single-factor model.

Instrument / Measurement Tool

• Instrument Name: False Self Scale-Relationships with Other Christians (FSS-ROC)
• Author/Adapter: Richard Beck, Ph.D. (adapted from Sippola, Buchanan, & Kehoe, 2007; Harter, 1997)
• Construct Assessed: Relational inauthenticity, behavioral suppression, and false-self enactment within Christian peer groups
• Target Population: Adolescents and adults (ages 14+) with active, historical, or cultural exposure to Christian peer relationships and church communities
• Test Format: Self-administered paper-and-pencil or computer-based rating scale
• Administration Time: Approximately 3 to 5 minutes
• Total Number of Items: 7 items
• Response Scale: 5-point Likert rating system:
  • 1 = Strongly disagree
  • 2 = Somewhat disagree
  • 3 = Neither agree nor disagree
  • 4 = Somewhat agree
  • 5 = Strongly agree
• Scoring Procedures:
  • Reverse Scoring: Item 6 is positively worded (“Other Christians appreciate me for who I am”) and must be reverse-coded prior to composite score calculation (1 = 5, 2 = 4, 3 = 3, 4 = 2, 5 = 1).
  • Total Score Calculation: Compute either a cumulative raw sum (ranging from 7 to 35) or a mean item score (ranging from 1.0 to 5.0) by summing all 7 items (including reverse-coded Item 6) and dividing by 7.
  • Score Interpretation:
    • 1.00 – 2.20 (Low False Self): High relational authenticity. The respondent experiences psychological safety, genuine transparency, and authentic integration within their Christian peer community.
    • 2.21 – 3.40 (Moderate False Self): Intermediate or situational inauthenticity. The respondent experiences selective inhibition, displaying candor only with trusted peers while maintaining guarded facades in formal church settings.
    • 3.41 – 5.00 (High False Self): Severe relational alienation and behavioral masking. The respondent experiences profound pressure to conform, experiences intense fear of rejection, and feels essentially unseen and unknown by their Christian community.

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The False Self Scale-Relationships with Other Christians was developed by Dr. Richard Beck in the mid-2000s (circulated in research protocols beginning in 2004–2006), adapted with formal permission from the original adolescent romantic false-self instrument published by Lorrie K. Sippola, Christy M. Buchanan, and Sheri Kehoe in 2007 (Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates / Taylor & Francis).

Licensing and Accessibility: The scale is categorized as an open-access academic instrument for empirical and clinical non-commercial use. Researchers, clinicians, and graduate scholars may utilize the scale without purchasing licensing fees or royalty rights, provided that appropriate scholarly attribution is accorded to Dr. Richard Beck and the original foundational work of Sippola et al. (2007). Commercial exploitation, incorporation into proprietary digital mental health software platforms, or fee-gated diagnostic batteries requires prior written permission from the copyright holders.

References

• Beck, R., & McDonald, A. (2004). Attachment to God: The Attachment to God Inventory, tests of working model correspondence, and an exploration of faith group differences. Journal of Psychology and Theology, 32(2), 92–103. https://doi.org/10.1177/009164710403200202
• Harter, S. (1997). The personal self in social context: Barriers to authenticity. In R. D. Ashmore & L. Jussim (Eds.), Self and identity: Fundamental issues (pp. 81–105). Oxford University Press.
• Harter, S. (2002). Authenticity. In C. R. Snyder & S. J. Lopez (Eds.), Handbook of positive psychology (pp. 382–394). Oxford University Press.
• Harter, S., Waters, P., & Whitesell, N. R. (1998). Relational self-worth: Differences in parent and peer contexts among adolescents. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 15(2), 167–183. https://doi.org/10.1177/0265407598152002
• Hu, L. t., & Bentler, P. M. (1999). Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Structural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 6(1), 1–55. https://doi.org/10.1080/10705519909540118
• Sippola, L. K., Buchanan, C. M., & Kehoe, S. (2007). Correlates of false self in adolescent romantic relationships. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 36(4), 515–521. https://doi.org/10.1080/15374410701662758
• Winnicott, D. W. (1960). Ego distortion in terms of true and false self. In The Maturational Processes and the Facilitating Environment: Studies in the Theory of Emotional Development (pp. 140–152). International Universities Press.

Items of the Scale