Self-Control: Unidimensional or Multidimensional Capacity? Distinction between the Inhibitory and Initiatory Facets among students of Tehran University

With the development of Brief Self-Control Scale most studies in this field has used it widely for the measurement of the general capacity of self-control. Discordant findings on the adaptiveness of self-control have brought about doubt concerning unidimensionality of this scale. The aim of the present study was to investigate the factor structure of BSCS in Iran. 247 Iranian university students (188 women, 53 men and 6 undefined) completed the following scales: BSCS, Rumination Scale, Penn State Worry Questionnaire, Vitality Scale, & Anxiety and Depression Scale. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) showed that one-factor structure of BSCS did not fit the data well. Explanatory factor analysis (EFA) proposed two-factor structure of the scale that fit the data well and performed better than one-factor structure in a new CFA. The results were discussed through considering the viewpoints concerning the two facets of self-control and they confirmed the need for reviewing the theories and research on the inhibitory and initiatory facets of self-control.