Some authors have used a self-control subscale from Gough’s
(1987) California Personality Inventory (CPI). There is reason to
question whether this subscale is appropriately named: Although
some items on it do seem a priori relevant to self-control, others do
not. Some seem quite irrelevant to the concept of self-control
construct (e.g., ‘‘I would like to wear expensive clothes;’’ ‘‘I would
like to be an actor on the stage or in the movies;’’ ‘‘I have had very
Benefits of Self-Control 273
peculiar and strange experiences’’). Some address interpersonal
issues that are not directly indicative of self-control (e.g., ‘‘My home
life was always happy;’’ ‘‘My way of doing things is apt to be
misunderstood by others’’). Others seem to focus in particular on a
narcissistic style of self-admiration (e.g., ‘‘I would like to be the
center of attention;’’ ‘‘A person needs to ‘show off’ a little now and
then’’). Others ask about impulses rather than about control over
them (e.g., ‘‘Sometimes I feel like smashing things;’’ ‘‘Sometimes I
feel as if I must injure either myself or someone else’’).
The heterogeneity of items on the CPI Self-Control (Sc) scale may
well reflect the complex process by which the scale evolved.
Following the development of the CPI So (Socialization) and Re
(Responsibility) subscales, Gough, McClosky, and Meehl (1952)
concluded that So and Re did not really capture ‘‘the kind of joyful,
ebullient abandonment of restraint that one sees at certain times
such as attendance at a carnival’’ (CPI Administrator’s Guide,
p. 45). Thus, they set about developing a scale to assess
‘‘impetuosity, high spirits, caprice, and a taste for deviltry’’ (CPI
Administrator’s Guide, p. 45)—clearly one pattern of behavior that
may be atypical of self-control in general. The conceptual
heterogeneity, along with the seeming lack of face validity of many
items, may be one reason that this scale has not been popular among
laboratory researchers in recent decades, despite the rapid expansion
of research on self-regulation. Certainly self-control is a distinct
construct that should be largely independent of high spirits and a
taste for deviltry. In any case, the CPI antedates most of the modern
research on self-control, and so, on an a priori basis, it would be
desirable to construct a new scale based on recent developments.
In view of the drawbacks with these existing measures, we felt it
desirable to develop our own. Central to our concept of self-control
was the ability to override or change one’s inner responses, as well as
to interrupt undesired behavioral tendencies (such as impulses) and
refrain from acting on them. The concept of self-control as overriding
responses fits well with Carver and Scheier’s (1981, 1982,
1998) pioneering work on self-regulation. Their theoretical model
emphasized the feedback loop (test, operate, test, exit) that guides
behavior toward goals and standards. Indeed, their work arose from
studies of self-awareness, for which an effective trait measure has
long been available (Fenigstein, Scheier, & Buss, 1975). Our interest
placed less emphasis on the supervisory feedback loop and instead
274 Tangney et al.
emphasized the ‘‘operate’’ phase of the loop, by which the self performs
operations that alter itself. Regulating the stream of thought
(e.g., forcing oneself to concentrate), altering moods or emotions,
restraining undesirable impulses, and achieving optimal performance
(e.g., by making oneself persist) all constitute important
instances of the self overriding its responses and altering its states or
behaviors. More generally, breaking habits, resisting temptation,
and keeping good self-discipline all reflect the ability of the self to
control itself, and we sought to build our scale around them.
Benefits of Self-Control
Self-control is widely regarded as a capacity to change and adapt the
self so as to produce a better, more optimal fit between self and
world (e.g., Rothbaum et al., 1982). Central to our concept of selfcontrol
is the ability to override or change one’s inner responses, as
well as to interrupt undesired behavioral tendencies and refrain from
acting on them. From this perspective, self-control should contribute
to producing a broad range of positive outcomes in life. In
fact, empirical evidence indicates that people with high dispositional
self-control have better outcomes in various spheres. In two
independent studies, we sought to replicate and extend these prior
findings, taking advantage of two large ongoing investigations in
which multiple outcomes were being assessed.
Achievement and Task Performance
A first domain involves task performance, such as in school or work.
Our participants were university students, and so the primary or
quintessential measure of overall success is grade point average.
People with high self-control should presumably achieve better
grades in the long run, because they should be better at getting tasks
done on time, preventing leisure activities from interfering with
work, using study time effectively, choosing appropriate courses,
and keeping emotional distractions from impairing performance.
Prior studies have provided some evidence that self-control
facilitates school performance. Feldman, Martinez-Pons, and
Shaham (1995) found that children with higher self-regulation (as
assessed by the Student Regulated Learning Scale; Zimmerman &
Martinez-Pons, 1988) received better grades in a computer course.
Flynn (1985) found that improvements in delay of gratification were
Benefits of Self-Control 275
correlated to improvements in school achievement among 4-year-old
African American migrant boys, although not girls. A pair of studies
by Mischel, Shoda, and Peake (1988) and Shoda, Mischel, and
Peake (1990) assessed children’s capacity to delay gratification at age
4 and then followed up the participants as they completed high
school and entered college. They showed that the children who were
most successful at delaying gratification went on to become adults
with higher SAT scores, indicating better academic performance.
Insofar as delay of gratification constitutes a behavioral index of
self-control, these results do point toward lasting and long-term
benefits of good self-control. Wolfe and Johnson (1995) found that
self-control was the only one among 32 personality variables that
contributed significantly to prediction of grade point average among
university students. They used four different self-control scales,
including a Big Five Conscientiousness subscale ( John, 1990), an
organization subscale from the Jackson Personality Inventory
( Jackson, 1976), a control subscale developed by Waller, Lilienfeld,
Tellegen, and Lykken (1991), and a new scale of items pertaining
self-efficacy. These findings lent support for our prediction that high
self-control would predict better academic performance.
Impulse Control
A second domain involves impulsive behaviors. Many university
students suffer from problems in impulse regulation, as has been
widely documented (see Baumeister et al., 1994, for review). In
particular, problems with regulating eating are prevalent, if not
epidemic, among female university students, whereas surveys of
male students suggest that many suffer from alcohol abuse problems
(e.g., Heatherton, 1993; Heatherton & Baumeister, 1991; Johnston,
O’Malley, & Bachman, 1991; Williamson, 1990). Regulating intake
of food and drink is one of the most obvious and direct applications
of self-control, and so we predicted that people high in self-control
should exhibit fewer such problems.
Several studies have linked impulse control problems to deficits
in self-control. Storey (1999) concluded that poor self-regulation, as
assessed by the Barratt Impulsivity Scale, was an important predictor
of heroin addiction. Wills, DuHamel, and Vaccaro (1995)
found that self-control, as assessed by a scale they derived from
a behavior rating scale by Kendall and Wilcox (1979), was an
276 Tangney et al.
important predictor of substance abuse among adolescents and, in
fact, seemed to mediate between temperament and substance abuse.
Peluso, Ricciardelli, and Williams (1999) found some links of
generally poor self-control, as assessed by a scale developed by
Rohde, Lewinsohn, Tilson, and Seeley (1990), to problem drinking
and problem eating patterns among college students. Cook, Young,
Taylor, and Bedford (1998) found that low CPI self-control
predicted higher alcohol consumption among adults. Romal and
Kaplan (1995) found that people with good self-control, as assessed
by Rosenbaum’s (1980) scale, were better able to save their money
rather than spend it. In Study 1, we sought to extend these findings
by examining the links between self-control and young adults’
reports of eating disorder symptoms and alcohol use.
Adjustment
A third domain involves psychological adjustment. Many psychological
problems and disorders involve some degree of self-regulation
failure. The link between psychological symptoms and self-control
could be bidirectional. On one hand, difficulties with self-regulation
can set the stage for a range of psychological problems. Indeed,
problems with self-control are the hallmark of many disorders
detailed in the Diagnostic and StatisticalManual ofMental Disorders
(DSM-IV; American Psychiatric Association, 1994). Conversely, the
emotional distress associated with many of these problems can
impair self-control by preempting limited resources and by producing
stressful outcomes that further burden the individual’s
regulatory capacity.
Of particular interest is the hypothesis that psychological
difficulties can result from either too little or too much control.
The pathogenic nature of self-control failure is fairly obvious. The
DSM-IV has an entire cluster of diagnoses that fall under the
umbrella of ‘‘Impulse Control Disorders,’’ and many other disorders
are essentially defined by probl
Some authors have used a self-control subscale from Gough’s
(1987) California Personality Inventory (CPI). There is reason to
question whether this subscale is appropriately named: Although
some items on it do seem a priori relevant to self-control, others do
not. Some seem quite irrelevant to the concept of self-control
construct (e.g., ‘‘I would like to wear expensive clothes;’’ ‘‘I would
like to be an actor on the stage or in the movies;’’ ‘‘I have had very
Benefits of Self-Control 273
peculiar and strange experiences’’). Some address interpersonal
issues that are not directly indicative of self-control (e.g., ‘‘My home
life was always happy;’’ ‘‘My way of doing things is apt to be
misunderstood by others’’). Others seem to focus in particular on a
narcissistic style of self-admiration (e.g., ‘‘I would like to be the
center of attention;’’ ‘‘A person needs to ‘show off’ a little now and
then’’). Others ask about impulses rather than about control over
them (e.g., ‘‘Sometimes I feel like smashing things;’’ ‘‘Sometimes I
feel as if I must injure either myself or someone else’’).
The heterogeneity of items on the CPI Self-Control (Sc) scale may
well reflect the complex process by which the scale evolved.
Following the development of the CPI So (Socialization) and Re
(Responsibility) subscales, Gough, McClosky, and Meehl (1952)
concluded that So and Re did not really capture ‘‘the kind of joyful,
ebullient abandonment of restraint that one sees at certain times
such as attendance at a carnival’’ (CPI Administrator’s Guide,
p. 45). Thus, they set about developing a scale to assess
‘‘impetuosity, high spirits, caprice, and a taste for deviltry’’ (CPI
Administrator’s Guide, p. 45)—clearly one pattern of behavior that
may be atypical of self-control in general. The conceptual
heterogeneity, along with the seeming lack of face validity of many
items, may be one reason that this scale has not been popular among
laboratory researchers in recent decades, despite the rapid expansion
of research on self-regulation. Certainly self-control is a distinct
construct that should be largely independent of high spirits and a
taste for deviltry. In any case, the CPI antedates most of the modern
research on self-control, and so, on an a priori basis, it would be
desirable to construct a new scale based on recent developments.
In view of the drawbacks with these existing measures, we felt it
desirable to develop our own. Central to our concept of self-control
was the ability to override or change one’s inner responses, as well as
to interrupt undesired behavioral tendencies (such as impulses) and
refrain from acting on them. The concept of self-control as overriding
responses fits well with Carver and Scheier’s (1981, 1982,
1998) pioneering work on self-regulation. Their theoretical model
emphasized the feedback loop (test, operate, test, exit) that guides
behavior toward goals and standards. Indeed, their work arose from
studies of self-awareness, for which an effective trait measure has
long been available (Fenigstein, Scheier, & Buss, 1975). Our interest
placed less emphasis on the supervisory feedback loop and instead
274 Tangney et al.
emphasized the ‘‘operate’’ phase of the loop, by which the self performs
operations that alter itself. Regulating the stream of thought
(e.g., forcing oneself to concentrate), altering moods or emotions,
restraining undesirable impulses, and achieving optimal performance
(e.g., by making oneself persist) all constitute important
instances of the self overriding its responses and altering its states or
behaviors. More generally, breaking habits, resisting temptation,
and keeping good self-discipline all reflect the ability of the self to
control itself, and we sought to build our scale around them.
Benefits of Self-Control
Self-control is widely regarded as a capacity to change and adapt the
self so as to produce a better, more optimal fit between self and
world (e.g., Rothbaum et al., 1982). Central to our concept of selfcontrol
is the ability to override or change one’s inner responses, as
well as to interrupt undesired behavioral tendencies and refrain from
acting on them. From this perspective, self-control should contribute
to producing a broad range of positive outcomes in life. In
fact, empirical evidence indicates that people with high dispositional
self-control have better outcomes in various spheres. In two
independent studies, we sought to replicate and extend these prior
findings, taking advantage of two large ongoing investigations in
which multiple outcomes were being assessed.
Achievement and Task Performance
A first domain involves task performance, such as in school or work.
Our participants were university students, and so the primary or
quintessential measure of overall success is grade point average.
People with high self-control should presumably achieve better
grades in the long run, because they should be better at getting tasks
done on time, preventing leisure activities from interfering with
work, using study time effectively, choosing appropriate courses,
and keeping emotional distractions from impairing performance.
Prior studies have provided some evidence that self-control
facilitates school performance. Feldman, Martinez-Pons, and
Shaham (1995) found that children with higher self-regulation (as
assessed by the Student Regulated Learning Scale; Zimmerman &
Martinez-Pons, 1988) received better grades in a computer course.
Flynn (1985) found that improvements in delay of gratification were
Benefits of Self-Control 275
correlated to improvements in school achievement among 4-year-old
African American migrant boys, although not girls. A pair of studies
by Mischel, Shoda, and Peake (1988) and Shoda, Mischel, and
Peake (1990) assessed children’s capacity to delay gratification at age
4 and then followed up the participants as they completed high
school and entered college. They showed that the children who were
most successful at delaying gratification went on to become adults
with higher SAT scores, indicating better academic performance.
Insofar as delay of gratification constitutes a behavioral index of
self-control, these results do point toward lasting and long-term
benefits of good self-control. Wolfe and Johnson (1995) found that
self-control was the only one among 32 personality variables that
contributed significantly to prediction of grade point average among
university students. They used four different self-control scales,
including a Big Five Conscientiousness subscale ( John, 1990), an
organization subscale from the Jackson Personality Inventory
( Jackson, 1976), a control subscale developed by Waller, Lilienfeld,
Tellegen, and Lykken (1991), and a new scale of items pertaining
self-efficacy. These findings lent support for our prediction that high
self-control would predict better academic performance.
Impulse Control
A second domain involves impulsive behaviors. Many university
students suffer from problems in impulse regulation, as has been
widely documented (see Baumeister et al., 1994, for review). In
particular, problems with regulating eating are prevalent, if not
epidemic, among female university students, whereas surveys of
male students suggest that many suffer from alcohol abuse problems
(e.g., Heatherton, 1993; Heatherton & Baumeister, 1991; Johnston,
O’Malley, & Bachman, 1991; Williamson, 1990). Regulating intake
of food and drink is one of the most obvious and direct applications
of self-control, and so we predicted that people high in self-control
should exhibit fewer such problems.
Several studies have linked impulse control problems to deficits
in self-control. Storey (1999) concluded that poor self-regulation, as
assessed by the Barratt Impulsivity Scale, was an important predictor
of heroin addiction. Wills, DuHamel, and Vaccaro (1995)
found that self-control, as assessed by a scale they derived from
a behavior rating scale by Kendall and Wilcox (1979), was an
276 Tangney et al.
important predictor of substance abuse among adolescents and, in
fact, seemed to mediate between temperament and substance abuse.
Peluso, Ricciardelli, and Williams (1999) found some links of
generally poor self-control, as assessed by a scale developed by
Rohde, Lewinsohn, Tilson, and Seeley (1990), to problem drinking
and problem eating patterns among college students. Cook, Young,
Taylor, and Bedford (1998) found that low CPI self-control
predicted higher alcohol consumption among adults. Romal and
Kaplan (1995) found that people with good self-control, as assessed
by Rosenbaum’s (1980) scale, were better able to save their money
rather than spend it. In Study 1, we sought to extend these findings
by examining the links between self-control and young adults’
reports of eating disorder symptoms and alcohol use.
Adjustment
A third domain involves psychological adjustment. Many psychological
problems and disorders involve some degree of self-regulation
failure. The link between psychological symptoms and self-control
could be bidirectional. On one hand, difficulties with self-regulation
can set the stage for a range of psychological problems. Indeed,
problems with self-control are the hallmark of many disorders
detailed in the Diagnostic and StatisticalManual ofMental Disorders
(DSM-IV; American Psychiatric Association, 1994). Conversely, the
emotional distress associated with many of these problems can
impair self-control by preempting limited resources and by producing
stressful outcomes that further burden the individual’s
regulatory capacity.
Of particular interest is the hypothesis that psychological
difficulties can result from either too little or too much control.
The pathogenic nature of self-control failure is fairly obvious. The
DSM-IV has an entire cluster of diagnoses that fall under the
umbrella of ‘‘Impulse Control Disorders,’’ and many other disorders
are essentially defined by probl
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