• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.32 no.12
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• pp.1857-1865
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• 2008

The purpose of this study was to examine the importance of personal attributes as they related to developing first impressions and managing group acceptance in the context of sorority recruitment process. Specifically, we examined how certain personal characteristics of a sorority member were related to her use of a potential member's clothing and appearance as non-verbal cues during the member selection process. The characteristics identified through the literature review were materialism, fashion clothing involvement, and proximity of clothing to self. A questionnaire was distributed to members of two sorority houses at a southeastern university in the United States. A total of 140 US sorority members participated in the study. The results showed that a member's satisfaction with her chapter, her level of participation, and her length of membership in the chapter had no relation with her tendency to base her member selection on clothing and appearance. However, members' use of clothing and appearance as guiding their member selection decisions was related to other individual characteristics selected for the study(materialism, fashion clothing involvement, and proximity of clothing to self). Fashion clothing involvement and proximity of clothing to self(clothing for acceptance) were most significantly related to clothing-based member selection. Partial correlations were also produced to examine the mediating role of clothing-based impression formation.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.33 no.12
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• pp.1897-1909
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• 2009

This large-scale research project contributes to the theory development in the importance of clothing to the self and in the way that older persons might age successfully by fulfilling the need for self-actualization by incorporating a primary resource environment, such as clothing into their self-system. This paper presents one research objective from a lager project that explores the correlations among the Proximity of Clothing to Self (PCS), age identity (subjective or perceived age), and self-actualization (the highest level of human needs). A mail survey design was applied to this study. In November 2004, two questionnaires, Clothing: A Resource for Successful Aging? (to measure PCS, age identity, and demographic variables) and Personal Orientation Inventory (to measure self-actualization), were sent to 1,700 older persons in the U.S. and 195 completed usable questionnaires were returned (12% response rate). This research discovered that the age identity of older persons did not relate with PCS except for those 85 years and over. There were negative correlations among subscales of PCS and self-actualization. This result can be interpreted as that an older person who has not met the highest level of needs yet, can use clothing as a facilitator or need satisfier to meet a higher level of Self-Actualization (SA). Correlation analyses also revealed that older persons in the age category of 75 to 84 years were different from those in the category of 65 to 74 years and 85 years and over. This result implies that older persons in this age category are undergoing more psychological transitions than those in other categories. Further research is necessary to explore the relationship of several SA subscales with various clothing variables such as clothing interest, clothing involvement, or clothing satisfaction.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.31 no.6 s.165
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• pp.848-858
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• 2007

Sontag and Lee (2004) recently developed an objectively measurable instrument, the Proximity of Clothing to Self(PCS) Scale, which measured the psychological closeness of clothing to self. They validated a 4-factor, 24-item PCS Scale for use with adolescents and identified the need for confirmation of the factor structure with other age groups. This paper extends the work of Sontag and Lee by employing the PCS Scale with older persons, age 65 and over, and reports the validation of a 3-factor, 19-item PCS Scale for older persons. A mail survey was sent to a national random sample of 1,700 older Persons by means of a list purchased from a U.S. survey sampling company in late November 2004. Total usuable number of respondents was 250 with an adjusted response rate of 15.6 percent. Three analytical rounds of confirmatory factor analysis(CFA) to test the construct validity of the PCS Scale were conducted by using AMOS 5.0(Analysis of Moment Structures), one of several structural equation modeling(SEM) programs. Completion of three rounds of the CFA resulted in a 3-factor, 19-item PCS Scale with demonstrated construct validity and reliability for older persons. The three PCS dimensions are clothing in relation to 1) self as structure-process(PCS Dimension 1-2-3 combined), 2) self-esteem-evaluative and affective processes(PCS Dimension 4-5 combined), and 3) body image and body cathexis(PCS Dimension 6). The initially hypothesized 6-factor scale(Sontag & Lee, 2004) was not confirmed for adolescents in their study nor with older persons in this study. In addition, the 4-factor solution for the adolescent group did not hold for older persons. It appears that the self-system of older persons is more integrated than may be true for younger individuals. Recommendations for future testing of construct validity of the PCS Scale are made.