What is "self-concealment"

Self-concealment (SC) is a psychological construct defined as "a predisposition to actively conceal from others personal information that one perceives as distressing or negative." Self-concealment can be understood as an instance of boundary regulation in the maintenance of privacy. Self-concealed personal information has three characteristics: it is a subset of private information, can be consciously accessed, and is actively concealed from others. The concealed personal information (thoughts, feelings, actions, or events) is highly intimate and negative in valence (p. 440). Self-concealment has been shown to be both conceptually and empirically distinct from self-disclosure.