The development and examination of a self-control scale derived from a standard addiction research assessment

Abstract

High self-control is a dispositional feature that is strongly related to success. Having high self-control is associated with outcomes such as goal achievement success in school and at work, as well as better interpersonal functioning both as individuals and in groups. This project was interested in developing a "treatment-friendly" self-control scale in order to measure the relationship of dispositional self-control to substance abuse treatment outcomes. Using the Self-Control Scale (SCS; Tangney, Baumeister, and Boone, 2004) as a model, items embedded a standard instrument, the Client Evaluation of Self and Treatment (CEST; Simpson, Joe, Knight, Rowan-Szal, & Gray, 2012), were selected for the new CEST Self-Control scale. This project includes three studies that present psychometric results from diverse samples, incarcerated adults, university students, and adolescents in substance abuse treatment. In the student sample, this project uniquely presents CEST scale scores from a sample of normal-functioning individuals living in a non-substance abuse treatment, non-prison setting. The CEST-SC scale demonstrated good internal reliability, convergent validity, and cross-validity when compared to the SCS. It showed promise in predicting treatment outcomes. Once fully implemented, the CEST-SC has potential as a "treatment-friendly" self-control scale.