Self-control: Refinement of a construct

Abstract

Previous efforts, on a theoretical/model building level, refined the construct "self-control" into four quadrants: (1) positive assertive (active control), (2) positive yielding (letting-go control), (3) negative assertive (over-control), and (4) negative yielding (too little control). To test the discreteness of the four quadrants, 706 individuals, the majority in health and healing professions, from nine cities across the United States, responded to prompt words designed to assess each quadrant. A factor analysis provided partial concurrent validation, and the results revealed information about the semantic structure of self-control, as well as personal characteristics associated with self-control. Further, mean tabulations showed not only cultural bias (i.e., high self-control was associated almost exclusively with Quadrant 1, but also sex role bias (i.e., low self-control for a man was most often associated with Quadrant 3, negative assertiveness, and for a woman was most often associated with Quadrant 4 negative yielding). Clinical implications of these findings in terms of developing a self-control assessment inventory for matching self-control strategy to an individual with a particular clinical problem are discussed, and guidelines and suggestions for further research are offered.