Self-focused attention and self-monitoring influence on health and coping with stress

The issue of the presented study was to find relations between the elements of self-focused attention, self-monitoring and different styles of coping with stress and psychosomatic symptoms. The two factors of self-focused attention must be considered: (1) the private self-consciousness, the tendency to be aware of those aspects of one's own self which cannot be observed by others; (2) the public self-consciousness, the tendency to be aware of the publicly displayed aspects of the self. The level of self-monitoring determines the significance which a person attaches to indicators coming from his or her social surrounding while modifying and shaping his or her behaviour. The results indicate both similarities and differences within the scope of both constructs: self-monitoring and self-focused attention. The differences between the constructs in question also pertain to their relation with psychopathology. Copyright (c) 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.