The relational self-concept scale: a context-specific self-report measure for adolescents.

This paper describes an alternative approach to measuring the self that directly accounts for the way individuals ruminate on their external actions in order to inform and maintain their self-image. This was achieved by designing the Relational Self-Concept Scale (RSCS), a measure that explores the role and impact that different social encounters within and around the school context have upon self-concept formation. Analysis of responses to this context-specific self-report measure, obtained from a large sample of adolescents (N = 978), confirmed that the scale is multidimensional, possesses appropriate psychometric properties, and contains a high degree of ecological validity.