A Comparison of Four Measures of Self-Control Skills

Abstract

This study compares the psychometric characteristics of four questionnaires designed to assess self-control skills: the Self-Control Questionnaire, the Frequency of Self-Reinforcement Questionnaire, the Cognitive Self-Management Test, and the Lifestyle Approaches Inventory. Content validity was judged to be fairly comparable by three raters in Study 1. In Study 2, convergent and divergent validity support was obtained for all four questionnaires when administered to 369 multiethnic college students, but the relative degree of support varied across constructs. Hence, selection of a self-control instrument may be guided by the target behavior of interest.

Are Improvements in Cognitive Content and Depressive Symptoms Correlates or Mediators during Acute-Phase Cognitive Therapy for Recurrent Major Depressive Disorder?

“…Similarly for the SCS, we averaged published data from several reports using Kendall and Sheldrick’s (2000) methods to weight studies’ means and SD s by sample sizes to estimate population values. Studies contributing SCS normative data were Ingledew, Hardy, and Cooper (1992); Katz and Singh (1986); Flett, Blankstein, Bator, and Pliner (1989); Goff (2010); MacLachlan (1985); Mezo and Heiby (2004); Redden, Tucker, and Young (1983); Richards (1985); and Rosenbaum (1980; only data from the English-language SCS included), which yielded pooled M = 26.0, SD = 22.3. Mindful of patients’ difficulty in completing the original ASQ (Peterson et al, 1982), Dykema, Bergbower, Doctora, and Peterson (1996) created the short form with better internal consistency and strong validity used in this study.…”

Relationship of Emotional Intelligence and Self-regulation of Male Elite Swimmers

“…Emotional regulation refers to control of sentiments and motives, and cognitive regulation means to control thoughts and actions that are related to planning and execution of behaviors (10). Self-regulation has a significant relationship with general adjustment, emotional states, health-related habits, and athletic performance (11)(12)(13), and self-regulation deficiency is considered a psychological barrier to health-related behaviors such as exercise (14).…”

Proposed cut‐off scores for self‐management questionnaires

“…The CSM is composed of 26 items, with each item rated on a 5‐point scale. No uniform scoring guidelines were provided at the time of instrument development; however, a one to five scale has been used for the individual items, with a corresponding total score ranging from 26 to 130 (Mezo, 2009; Mezo & Heiby, 2004). The CSM was designed to assess cognitive aspects of self‐management and to “tap feelings of efficacy in approaching new tasks, and style of self‐talk (supportive versus disparaging)” (Rude, 1986, p. 391).…”

“…These instruments have included the Self‐Control Questionnaire (SCQ; Rehm et al., 1981), the Frequency of Self‐Reinforcement Questionnaire (FSRQ; Heiby, 1982), the Cognitive Self‐Management Test (CSM; Rude, 1986), a second Self‐Control Questionnaire (SCQ‐Brandon; Brandon, Oescher, & Loftin, 1990), and the Self‐Control and Self‐Management Scale (SCMS; Mezo, 2009). Although some debate exists regarding the specific assessment targets of some of these instruments (Mezo & Heiby, 2004), they are all associated with Kanfer's (1970) definition of self‐management. All of these instruments have acceptable reliability and validity estimates (Mezo & Heiby, 2004).…”

“…Although some debate exists regarding the specific assessment targets of some of these instruments (Mezo & Heiby, 2004), they are all associated with Kanfer's (1970) definition of self‐management. All of these instruments have acceptable reliability and validity estimates (Mezo & Heiby, 2004). However, score interpretation guidelines for each of these five instruments are limited because it is not known what score on each instrument suggests a deficiency in self‐management skills (i.e., there are no cut‐off scores).…”