Abstract
The main purpose of the present study was to investigate the relationship between self-perception and mental health. The results confirmed the positive and negative illusion phenomena that had been found in adolescents. On the basis of those prior results, a Self-Perception Scale was constructed. Participants in the present study were 110 men and 133 women from postsecondary educational institutions. The results of the present study in relation to positive and negative illusion phenomena are similar to those of Toyama (1999). The present study also found that self-perceptions were related to mental health. People with self-enhancement tended to show better mental health, whereas people with self-effacement, in the form of seeing oneself as average, showed as good mental health as people with self-enhancement only where negative illusion phenomena were shown. Inversely, people with self-effacement showed as poor mental health as people with self-devaluation when positive illusion phenomena were shown