Trait self-control is important for well-being and mental and physical health. Most extant measures of self-control are limited in that they do not account for the multidimensionality and specificity of the trait. The aim of this study was to develop and validate a multidimensional and hierarchical scale of self-control in a full and a short version. The development of the Multidimensional Self-Control Scale (MSCS) and the Brief Multidimensional Self-Control Scale (BMSCS) was based on focus groups, a pilot, a main, and a validation sample (total N = 2,409). The 29-item MSCS consists of 6 first-order factors (Procrastination, Attentional Control, Impulse Control, Emotional Control, Goal Orientation, and Self-Control Strategies), 2 second-order factors (Inhibition and Initiation), and a third-order self-control factor. The 8 items in BMSCS provides a general trait self-control score. Findings from exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses supported the structures across samples, and internal consistency was acceptable. Assessment for acquiescence and sex differences indicated no major impacts on the scales. Strong convergent validity was observed with the Self-Control Scale (SCS) and the Brief Self-Control Scale (BSCS), as well as to other similar concepts. The MSCS subscales discriminated well between each other. Assessment of incremental validity of the MSCS over SCS, when controlling for sex and personality, showed significant increases in explained variance when predicting habits, hardiness, and life satisfaction. Similar significant results were observed for the BMSCS over the BSCS. Overall, results indicate that the new scales are useful measures that integrate recent theoretical and empirical findings of trait self-control. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).
This study explores whether there is an indirect effect of psychological safety on team effectiveness in management teams, operating through the mediating variable of behavioral integration. Whilst there exists a fair amount of research on the relationship between psychological safety and team effectiveness, few have looked at potential mechanisms that can explain this association in management teams. We propose behavioral integration to be a potential mediator. Data are collected from 1150 leaders in 160 Norwegian management teams, answering a questionnaire measuring team functioning and effectiveness. Team size ranged from 3 to 19 members. Our results show a significant indirect effect of psychological safety on management team effectiveness, mediated by behavioral integration. Thus, the more team members perceive the climate as safe in terms of speaking their mind without the fear of repercussions, the more they partake in mutual collaboration, information sharing and experience ownership in the decisions being made. This is associated with management teams performing better. We also found a positive relationship between psychological safety and behavioral integration, and—in line with previous studies—that psychological safety and behavioral integration both were positively related to team effectiveness. This study adds to the existing team research literature by expanding our knowledge about the importance of psychological safety and the way it influences management team performance at all levels throughout the organizational hierarchy.
Team psychological safety, as a shared perception, is persistently found to be important for team performance. However, team members may not necessarily agree on the level of safety within the team. What happens when team members have dispersed perceptions of team psychological safety? Through a survey-based study involving 1,149 members of 160 management teams, we found that, not only is the level of team psychological safety positively related to team performance, but also that sharedness among team members (team psychological safety climate strength) moderates this relationship. The more team members agree on the level of team psychological safety, the stronger the effect of team psychological safety on team performance. Further, having at least one member who perceives the team as psychologically safe may lift team performance in a team of low psychological safety. We discuss theoretical and practical implications of looking beyond average levels of team psychological safety for building high-performing teams.
Self-control is important for mental and physical health, and personality traits are vital antecedents for self-control. Previous studies suggest that conscientiousness and extraversion enhance self-control, whereas neuroticism hampers it. However, the link between personality and self-control has mostly been studied using a narrow conceptualization of self-control, as the ability to resist impulses, thus excluding initiatory self-control. Also, no studies have examined whether and how personality traits interact with one another to increase, or reduce, self-control. Data were collected on two occasions from 480 military cadets (31.04% female) to examine the relationship between the Big Five personality traits and self-control (general, inhibitory, and initiatory self-control). Furthermore, the study investigated the moderating role of neuroticism, as a trait and as individual facets, on the relationship between the other personality traits and self-control. Although neuroticism correlated negatively with all self-control dimensions, there were unique relations only with general and inhibitory self-control. Extraversion correlated positively with all self-control dimensions but was only uniquely related to initiatory self-control. Conscientiousness correlated positively with all self-control dimensions and this pattern persisted when we assessed the unique effects. Openness to experience and agreeableness correlated positively with general and inhibitory self-control but had no unique effects on any of the self-control dimensions. Neuroticism negatively moderated the relationship between extraversion and both general and inhibitory self-control, and the relationship between conscientiousness and both general and initiatory self-control. The facet-level analysis confirmed the general patterns and provided further detail on which facets of neuroticism were the most influential as moderators. In conclusion, the study highlights the critical role of different types of self-control, and that neuroticism plays a cardinal role for the effects of conscientiousness and extraversion on self-control.
1 July 2015 in Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences
Problem statement: Officers educated at the Norwegian Military Academy (NMA) will most likely serve in leading roles in international military operations, which will demand both intellect and character. There is, however,a lack of systematic research on which character traits that are crucial forsucceeding in these operations, and hence, to develop during military training and education at the NMA. Purpose of study: This paper discusses the process of selecting the most important character strengths for development in cadets attending the NMA. Method Two groups of participants, one expert group and one military group, were given a list of 24 character strengths to select from (Peterson & Seligman, 2004). Findings and Results The following 9 character strengths were most important to both groups: leadership, integrity, persistence, bravery, citizenship, open-mindedness, social intelligence, self-regulation and creativity. In addition, perspective, fairness, and love of learning were chosen by the military group, totaling 12 character strengths in all. Conclusions and recommendations: These 12 character strengths were selected for further researchto explore ways of measuring them live in military training exercises, to determine the extent to which they can be developed through military training, and to see which strengths better predict military officer performance