Abstract
In a study with 102 non-clinical adults, relationships between measures of irrational beliefs, unconditional self-acceptance, self-esteem and the Big-5 personality dimensions were investigated. As expected, unconditional self-acceptance was highly correlated with self-esteem. In line with key tenets of REBT, individuals who scored highly on unconditional self-acceptance scored low on irrational beliefs even after self-esteem had been partialled out. Unconditional self-acceptance was found to be significantly (negatively) correlated with Neuroticism but not with other Big-5 personality dimensions. Irrational beliefs were found to correlate positively with Neuroticism and negatively with Openness. Factor analysis of the unconditional self-acceptance scale did not show a simple one-dimensional structure. A revised version of the scale comprising those items that did not load on a self-esteem factor produced a purer measure of unconditional self-acceptance that did not correlate significantly with self-esteem. The findings have implications for investigating unconditional self-acceptance in studies of therapeutic outcome.
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Davies, M.F. Irrational beliefs and unconditional self-acceptance. I. Correlational evidence linking two key features of REBT. J Rat-Emo Cognitive-Behav Ther 24, 113–124 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10942-006-0027-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10942-006-0027-0