Association of Self-Construal with Disclosure and the Need for Affect among Psychological Counselor Candidates

This study examines whether relatedness, autonomy, and autonomous-related self-construals predict the variables of approaching and avoiding emotions through the perception of self-disclosure. In this context, a path model containing these variables was developed and tested in this study by considering theoretical explanations. Participants included students attending Aksaray University’s Guidance and Psychological Counseling Department. Taking into consideration that the individuals to whom the measurement tools would be administered were to be between 18 and 26, the maximum diversity method, one of the purposive sampling methods, was employed in the study. Data were collected “Relational, Autonomy, Autonomous-Relational Scale”, “Short Form of the Need for Affect Questionnaire” and “Opener Scale”. This study shows that relatedness, autonomy, and autonomous-related self-construals are directly related to the perception of disclosure. The results revealed that those with relatedness self-construal have the highest perception of disclosure. Autonomy self-construal came second and autonomous-related self-construal came third. In this study, it seems that individuals with relatedness self-construal perceived themselves more open in terms of sharing their feelings. This study shows that the perception of disclosure was low in autonomous-related self-construal in which individuals both perceived and assessed themselves as autonomous and interdependent with others.