Self-reflection, insight, and mood disorder symptoms: Evaluating the short form of the self-reflection and insight scale with clinical interviews and self-reports

The 20-item Self-reflection and Insight Scale (SRIS) is a widely used measure of individual differences in self-focused attention and private self-consciousness. In the present research, we examined the validity of a 12-item short form of the SRIS, which was recently developed based on item response theory models. Measures related to mental health and well-being were used as criteria for evaluating the relative effect sizes for the long and short SRIS. In Study 1 (n = 278 adults), the short and long SRIS scores had highly similar correlations with dimensional measures of depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms as well as with neuroticism. In Study 2 (n = 78 adults), participants were classified into major depression and healthy control groups based on structured clinical interviews. The short and long SRIS had similar profiles of differences between the two groups. Taken together, the studies suggest that the short forms effectively recover the effect sizes of the long forms, so the briefer SRIS would be a good option when time and survey space are tight.