Journal of Counseling Psychology
1998, Vol. 45, No. 3, 235-246
Copyright 1998 by the American Psychological Association, Inc.
0022-0167/98/S3.00
The Differentiation of Self Inventory:
Development and Initial Validation
Elizabeth A. Skowron and Myrna L. Friedlander
University at Albany, State University of New York
Despite the importance of Bowen theory (M.Bowen, 1976,1978; M. E. Kerr&Bowen, 1988)
in the field of family therapy, there have been relatively few studies to date examining its
constructs or propositions. To fill this gap, a self-report instrument, the Differentiation of Self
Inventory (DSI) has been developed. The DSI is a multidimensional measure of differentiation
that focuses specifically on adults (age 25+), their significant relationships, and current
relations with family of origin. Six-hundred and nine adults participated in a series of 3
studies, in which DSI scores—reflecting less emotional reactivity, cutoff, and fusion with
others, and a greater ability to take an "I position"—predicted lower chronic anxiety, better
psychological adjustment, and greater marital satisfaction. Other results consistent with
Bowen theory are discussed, along with the potential contribution of the DSI for testing
Bowen theory, as a clinical assessment tool, and as an indicator of psychotherapeutic outcome.
Bowen theory (Bowen, 1976, 1978) is regarded as one of
the few comprehensive explanations of psychological devel-
opment from a systemic and multigenerational perspective
(Gurman, 1991; Nichols & Schwartz, 1998). Indeed, Bowen
theory provides a foundation for the field of family therapy
that renders it distinct from the multitude of theoretical
approaches to individual psychotherapy. At present, many of
Bowen's (1976, 1978) concepts (e.g., differentiation of self,
interlocking triangles, or reactive emotional distancing)
pervade the family systems literature. Despite the vast
attention Bowen theory has received from clinicians and
theorists alike, there have been, to date, few programmatic
attempts to test its validity with respect to personality
functioning or quality of interpersonal relations or to changes
as a result of psychotherapy. To begin filling this notable
gap, we developed the Differentiation of Self Inventory, a
self-report instrument for adults (ages 25+). In this article,
we present psychometric support for the measure, validation
studies to date, and implications for theory, research, and
practice.
Of the various constructs that compose Bowen theory,
differentiation of self is the personality variable most critical
to mature development and the attainment of psychological
Elizabeth A. Skowron and Myrna L. Friedlander, Department of
Counseling Psychology, University at Albany, State University of
New York.
Portions of this research, based on a doctoral dissertation by
Elizabeth A. Skowron under the direction of Myrna L, Friedlander,
were presented at the 100th and 103rd Annual Conventions of the
American Psychological Association. We gratefully acknowledge
the valuable comments and suggestions of Richard F. Haase,
Michael P. Nichols, Robert Noone, Collie Connelly, Barbara
White, and Douglas Rait.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to
Elizabeth A. Skowron, who is now at the Department of Educa-
tional Psychology, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wiscon-
sin 53201-0413. Electronic mail may be sent to eskowron®
soe.uwm.edu.
health. Differentiation of self is defined as the degree to
which one is able to balance (a) emotional and intellectual
functioning and (b) intimacy and autonomy in relationships
(Bowen, 1978). On an intrapsychic level, differentiation
refers to the ability to distinguish thoughts from feelings and
to choose between being guided by one's intellect or one's
emotions (Bowen, 1976, 1978). Greater differentiation al-
lows one to experience strong affect or shift to calm, logical
reasoning when circumstances dictate. Flexible, adaptable,
and better able to cope with stress, more differentiated
individuals operate equally well on both emotional and
rational levels while maintaining a measure of autonomy
within their intimate relationships.
In contrast, poorly differentiated persons tend to be more
emotionally reactive (Kerr & Bowen, 1988, p. 320), finding
it difficult to remain calm in response to the emotionality of
others. With intellect and emotions fused, they tend to make
decisions on the basis of what "feels right"; in short, they
are trapped in an emotional world (Bowen, 1976; Kerr,
1985).
On an interpersonal level, differentiation of self refers to
the ability to experience intimacy with and independence
from others. More differentiated persons are capable of
taking an / Position in relationships: maintaining a clearly
defined sense of self and thoughtfully adhering to personal
convictions when pressured by others to do otherwise
(Bowen, 1978, p. 252). Differentiation allows for flexible
boundaries that permit emotional intimacy and physical
union with another without a fear of merger (Bowen, 1978;
Kerr, 1988).
When overwhelmed by emotionality in their family
relationships, poorly differentiated individuals tend to en-
gage infusion or emotional cutoff (Ken & Bowen, 1988).
According to Bowen theory, highly fused individuals remain
emotionally "stuck" in the position they occupied in their
families of origin, have few firmly held convictions and
beliefs, are either dogmatic or compliant, and seek accep-
tance and approval above all other goals (Bowen, 1976,
235
236 SKOWRON AND FRIEDLANDER
1978). Emotional cutoff is personified by the reactive
emotional distancer, who appears aloof and isolated from
others, tends to deny the importance of family, often boasts
of his or her emancipation from parents, and displays an
exaggerated facade of independence (Nichols & Schwartz,
1998). Whereas the fused person tends to experience separa-
tion as overwhelming, the emotionally cutoff person finds
intimacy profoundly threatening. Yet both individuals are
poorly differentiated, basing self-esteem largely on the
approval of others and generally conforming to those around
them.
Theoretically, one's level of differentiation has a number
of important consequences for an individual. Foremost,
Bowen (1978) proposed that less differentiated individuals
experience greater chronic anxiety: "The average level of
chronic anxiety of a person and of a . . . family parallels the
basic level of differentiation of that individual and family
[and] the lower the level of basic differentiation, the higher
the average level of chronic anxiety" (Ken" & Bowen, 1988,
p. 115). According to Bowen (1976, 1978; Kerr & Bowen,
1988), less differentiated individuals also become dysfunc-
tional under stress more easily and thus suffer more psycho-
logical and physical symptoms (e.g., anxiety, somatization,
depression, alcoholism, and psychoticism).
Conversely, highly differentiated individuals are thought
to demonstrate better psychological adjustment. Some evi-
dence has emerged in support of these notions. Greene,
Hamilton, and Rolling (1986) discovered that inpatient and
outpatient participants, regardless of diagnosis, reported
significantly lower levels of differentiation than did those in
a nonclinical control group. Likewise, adults who report less
fusion in their significant relationships have been shown to
experience fewer self-reported health problems (Bray, Har-
vey, & Williamson, 1987).
More highly differentiated individuals are also expected
to remain in satisfying contact with their families of origin,
establish more satisfying marriages, and be effective prob-
lem solvers (Bowen, 1976, 1978). At present, only indirect
support exists for the theoretical link between differentiation
and marital satisfaction. Jacobson and his colleagues (Jacob-
son, Follette, & McDonald, 1982; Jacobson, Waldron, &
Moore, 1980) found that behavioral reactivity, defined as the
tendency for spouses to react at the affective level to some
immediate stimulus from the partner, was associated with
marital distress. Couples who reported greater marital
satisfaction showed less emotional reactivity in their ex-
changes, whereas interactions of distressed couples were
characterized by heightened emotional reactivity to immedi-
ate positive and negative events in their relationships
(Jacobson, Follette, & McDonald, 1982; Jacobson, Waldron,
& Moore, 1980). Harvey, Curry, and Bray (1991) observed
that greater fusion and less intimacy with one's parents
predicted deficits in intimacy and greater emotional reactiv-
ity with one's spouse.
Concern has been expressed about the paucity of empiri-
cal research on the basic principles or constructs in Bowen
theory (Gurman, 1978,1991). If Bowen theory is to continue
to contribute significantly to the field, empirical means are
needed to test (and potentially modify) its basic assump-
tions. Thus, we undertook development of the Differentia-
tion of Self Inventory (DSI) to create a self-report instru-
ment for adults, age 25+, capable of (a) testing theoretical
assumptions, (b) assessing individual differences in adult
functioning, and (c) evaluating psychotherapeutic outcomes
from a systemic perspective. By defining adulthood with a
lower limit of 25 years of age, we sought to ensure that the
samples obtained consisted of those individuals who, from a
family life cycle perspective (Carter & McGoldrick, 1988),
could be considered adults (i.e., postcollege or working,
living apart from the parental home, and largely financially
independent).
To adequately measure differentiation, we included both
the intrapsychic and interpersonal components, that is, the
thinking-feeling and separateness-togetherness dimensions.
Historically, transgenerational theorists (e.g., Boszormenyi-
Nagy & Ulrich, 1981; Framo, 1992) have described indi-
vidual and family functioning solely in terms of interper-
sonal and intergenerational family processes. Self-report
instruments developed within this tradition include Kear's
(1978) Differentiation of Self Scale, the Emotional Cutoff
Scale (McCollum, 1991), the Family-of-Origin Scale (Hov-
estadt, Anderson, Piercy, Cochran, & Fine, 1985), and the
Personal Authority in the Family System Questionnaire
(Bray, Williamson, & Malone, 1984). Although each repre-
sents an important contribution to the field, none attempts to
operationalize the range of interpersonal components of
differentiation (i.e., fusion to emotional cutoff), and none
focuses on the intrapsychic aspects of differentiation (see
Bowen, 1978; Kerr & Bowen, 1988).
For example, Kear's (1978) Differentiation of Self Scale
consists of three factors: Separation of Thinking and Feel-
ing, Emotional Maturity, and Emotional Autonomy; yet
items reflect only interpersonal components of differentia-
tion and ignore quality of relations with spouse or partner.
The Differentiation of Self Scale suffers also from signifi-
cant methodological limitations. For instance, a factor
analysis used to create its subscales was conducted on 72
initial items using only 50 participants (see Nunnally, 1978).
McCollum's (1986, 1991) Emotional Cutoff Scale is an
excellent measure of the degree to which respondents
manage their emotional attachment to each parent through
cutoff. Yet its limited focus on relations with parents ignores
the presence of emotional cutoff in current significant
relationships as well as other aspects of differentiation. To
respond to the Family of Origin Scale (Hovestadt et al.,
1985), adults provide retrospective perceptions of their
family of origin relations, whereas adolescents are asked to
give their current perceptions of relations with family (e.g.,
Niedermeier, Handal, Brown, Searight, & Manley, 1992).
The retrospective ratings emphasize the past and ignore the
respondent's current relations with family members. And
although the Personal Authority in the Family System
Questionnaire (Bray et al., 1984) includes items about
current relationships, it neglects the concept of emotional
cutoff as well as the intrapsychic aspects of Bowen's (1976,
1978) concept of differentiation.
There also exist several self-report measures of separation-
individuation based on object relations theory (e.g., Hoff-
DIFFERENTIATION OF SELF 237
man, 1984; Levine, Green, & Millon, 1986; Olver, Aries, &
Batgos, 1990). These separation-individuation measures
were designed for use with late adolescents rather than
adults, and none contain items that deal with marital
relations or that reflect problems in achieving a balance
between intimacy and autonomy. The concept of differentia-
tion, as defined by Bowen (1976, 1978), is often misinter-
preted in the family therapy literature and equated with
individuation or autonomy. Although similar in some re-
spects, separation-individuation is not equivalent to differen-
tiation of self. Individuation, from an object relations
perspective (e.g., Bios, 1975; Mahler, Pine, & Bergman,
1975), involves the achievement of independence and a
unique sense of identity. Differentiation of self is the
capacity to maintain autonomous thinking and achieve a
clear, coherent sense of self in the context of emotional
relationships with important others.
To create the DSI, a series of studies was undertaken
based on three different samples. The purpose of these
studies was to develop and validate the DSI using a construct
approach to test construction (e.g., Jackson, 1970; Jackson
& Messick, 1958; Loevinger, 1957; NunnalLy, 1978). Jack-
son's recommendations for personality scale development
were used to construct items that would adequately reflect
the domain (i.e., differentiation of self), be clear and
unambiguous, be relatively free of social desirability bias
and other content biases, have high discriminatory power,
and, as a set, sufficiently represent the underlying construct
of differentiation (Jackson, 1970).
Study 1
The purpose of this study was to create the DSI. First,
definitions, descriptions, and examples from Bowen (1976,
1978; Anonymous, 1972) and his successors (Kerr, 1985;
Kerr & Bowen, 1988; Nichols, 1984; Nichols & Schwartz,
1998; Papero, 1990) were used to generate a pool of items
that exemplify differentiation of self. Items (N = 96) gener-
ated by our research team reflected the ability to distinguish
and balance (a) thinking and feeling and (b) the capacity for
intimacy with and autonomy from others in current impor-
tant relationships as well as with parents and siblings.
Differentiation was operationalized in a multidimensional
fashion, given that Bowen (1976, 1978) described many
components of differentiation in his writings. Further, Gur-
man (1978) argued that differentiation, like any complex
psychological construct, is inherently multidimensional. We
used a principal-components analysis to identify the DSFs
dimensionality and determine final item selection. Theoreti-
cal relations between differentiation and chronic anxiety
were tested to assess the initial construct validity of the DSI
(i.e., Bowen's proposition that poorly differentiated individu-
als also experience more chronic anxiety).
Method
Participants. Participants were adults (A^ =313) living in New
York, Ohio, and California, including (a) randomly selected faculty
and staff at a large state university, (b) parents of children on
a suburban athletic team, (c) graduate students in counseling
psychology, clinical psychology, and social work, and (d) available
friends and acquaintances of research team members. Completed
questionnaires were returned by 213 women and 98 men (2 gender
unspecified), 75% of whom were married, 49% with children. On
average, participants were 36.8 years of age (SD = 9.69,
range = 25-65). In terms of ethnicity, 5.1% of the sample were
African American, 4.5% Asian American, 2.2% Latino-Latina,
1.9% Native American, 82.7% White, and 3.2% other.
Instruments. Participants completed the 96-item DSI described
above. The Trait version of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory
(STAI-T; Spielberger, Gorsuch, & Lushene, 1970) is a well-
established 20-item self-report measure of relatively stable indi-
vidual differences in anxiety proneness. Internal consistency esti-
mates for the STATT-T have ranged from .86 to .92, and a
test-retest reliability correlation over a 3-month interval was
reported to be .75. In contrast to large changes in STAI-State scores
produced by stress conditions, STAI-T scores of chronic anxiety
remain stable and unaffected by experimentally induced stresses
(Spielberger et al., 1970).
Procedure. We contacted participants by form letter and asked
them to take part in a research project that focused on adults'
interpersonal relationships and their relationships with their fami-
lies of origin. Questionnaire packets consisted of the DSI, a
demographic sheet, and the STAI-T. Each packet included a cover
letter stating the purpose of the study and explaining the voluntary
and anonymous nature of the research. Postage-paid envelopes
were provided.
Results and Discussion
Subscales were developed on the basis of the responses of
313 adults. A principal-components analysis was conducted
using an orthogonal rotation. We used a principal-compo-
nents analysis because we were interested in identifying a
few coherent dimensions that best reflected the various
aspects of the differentiation. Bowen's theory has many
constructs that are not mutually exclusive but that relate to
differentiation of self. To have created subscales based
solely on our own biases as to the relative importance of
these theoretical constructs seemed less rigorous (cf. Jack-
son, 1970) than allowing the respondents' ratings to help
determine the salient dimensions of the measure. Thus,
although we created an initial pool of 96 items representa-
tive of the substantive domain of differentiation, the final
basis of item selection was empirical.
Four factors were identified with eigenvalues greater than
3.0, ranging from 11.43 to 3.34. Results of Cattail's scree
plot of the factor variances showed a substantial break after
four factors; these four factors accounted for 26.2% of the
variance. To interpret the factors and construct scales, we
considered only those items loading at least .40 on a single
factor (n = 43). The following factors were identified:
Factor 1, with 12 items, was defined as Emotional Reactiv-
ity; Factor 2, with 10 items, was defined as taking an
I Position; Factor 3, with 13 items, was defined as Reactive
Distancing; and Factor 4, with 9 items, was defined as
Fusion With Parents, (A table listing items and their factor
loadings is available from Elizabeth A. Skowron.)
We conducted subsequent analyses, using the four
subscale scores and a total DSI score. Scores were reversed
on the items constituting Emotional Reactivity, Reactive
238 SKOWRON AND FRIEDLANDER
Distancing, and Fusion With Parents subscales to signify
less differentiation; thus, higher scores on each subscale
reflected greater levels of differentiation. To compute the
DSI full scale, all 44 items were summed so that higher
scores reflected greater differentiation of self.
Internal consistency estimates using Cronbach's alpha
suggested high reliabilities for the DSI total scale and each
of the four subscales: DSI = .88; Emotional Reactivity =
.83; Reactive Distancing = .80; Fusion With Parents = .82;
and I Position = .80. Subscale correlations with the DSI full
scale were moderate to high: .59 (Fusion With Parents), .65
(I Position), .75 (Reactive Distancing), and .80 (Emotional
Reactivity). Correlations among the four subscales were
small to moderate: .37 (Emotional Reactivity and I Posi-
tion), .45 (Emotional Reactivity and Reactive Distancing),
.31 (Emotional Reactivity and Fusion With Parents), .34 (I
Position and Reactive Distancing), .17 (I Position and
Fusion With Parents), and .18 (Reactive Distancing and
Fusion With Parents). In support of the DSI's construct
va
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