ABSTRACT
Psychological hardiness is a set of personality characteristics that is linked to better health, performance, and leadership in demanding environments. Research indicates that candidates who score high on hardiness have an advantage during military leadership selection. In this study, we deconstruct the effect of hardiness into three separate measures of leadership performance: interview performance, field performance, and the probability of voluntary withdrawal from a challenging field exercise. Additionally, we hypothesize that the dispositional effect of hardiness is partly due to an indirect effect of contextual self-efficacy beliefs regarding military leadership ability. We test our hypotheses in a sample of candidates seeking admission to officer training in the Norwegian Armed Forces during a three-week selection process. The results confirm that hardiness was associated with successful admission and showed that hardy candidates scored somewhat higher on the interview and field exercises and were notably less likely to drop out of the field exercise. Using generalized structural equation modeling and mediation analysis, we find that the effect is partly mediated by self-efficacy beliefs, but the direct effect of hardiness is more pronounced than the indirect effect of self-efficacy. Overall, the results add to the growing body of hardiness as a predictor of military leadership performance and shows that this advantage is partly, but not primarily associated with contextual self-efficacy beliefs.
ABSTRACT
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).
