Imaginary audience behavior in children and adolescents.

Abstract

The Imaginary Audience Scale (IAS), consisting of two subscales-the Transient Self (TS) scale and the Abiding Self (AS) scale-was administered to 697 subjects at the 4th-, 6th-, 8th-, and 12th-grade levels. The scale assesses young people's willingness to reveal different facets of themselves to an audience. Some of the subjects were given the test twice to obtain reliability data, and some of the other subjects were also tested on measures of self-esteem and locus of control to obtain validity data. The results show that the IAS has reasonable reliability and construct validity. The results also show that 8th graders were significantly less willing than older or younger subjects to reveal their transient and abiding selves to an audience. Girls tended to be more reluctant than boys to reveal themselves to an audience. The results were interpreted as supporting the imaginary audience construct and as warranting further use of the IAS.

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