Scale library · Psychology & mental health
Brief Self-Control Scale: Tangney et al. (2004)
Self-control is the ability to override one's inner responses, interrupt undesired impulses and refrain from acting on them. Tangney, Baumeister and Boone (2004) built the 36-item Self-Control Scale and a 13-item brief version (BSCS), which is used far more often. It is common in theses on smartphone and social media addiction, academic procrastination, impulsive buying and student performance.
Cite the original, not the blog.
- Model or scale: BSCS
- Constructs: 1
- Items: 13 (9 reverse-coded)
Original English items
Items marked (R) are reverse-coded: recode them before computing reliability or scale scores. Replace bracketed placeholders such as [system] with the name of the system, brand or organization you study.
Self-Control (SC, 13 items)
| Code | Item wording | Reverse-coded |
|---|---|---|
| SC1 | I am good at resisting temptation. | No |
| SC2 (R) | I have a hard time breaking bad habits. | Yes |
| SC3 (R) | I am lazy. | Yes |
| SC4 (R) | I say inappropriate things. | Yes |
| SC5 (R) | I do certain things that are bad for me, if they are fun. | Yes |
| SC6 | I refuse things that are bad for me. | No |
| SC7 (R) | I wish I had more self-discipline. | Yes |
| SC8 | People would say that I have iron self-discipline. | No |
| SC9 (R) | Pleasure and fun sometimes keep me from getting work done. | Yes |
| SC10 (R) | I have trouble concentrating. | Yes |
| SC11 | I am able to work effectively toward long-term goals. | No |
| SC12 (R) | Sometimes I can't stop myself from doing something, even if I know it is wrong. | Yes |
| SC13 (R) | I often act without thinking through all the alternatives. | Yes |
Response scale
5-point self-description scale, not an agreement scale: 1 = Not at all like me … 5 = Very much like me. Reverse-score the 9 items describing low self-control (SC2, SC3, SC4, SC5, SC7, SC9, SC10, SC12, SC13), then sum or average the 13 items; higher scores mean better self-control.
Recoding reverse-coded items: 1–5 scale: new score = 1 + 5 − score = 6 − score.
Licence and permission
The items are published in Tangney, Baumeister and Boone (2004) and widely used in academic research. Cite the original article; we found no fee requirement for non-commercial research.
Sources (APA 7)
- Tangney, J. P., Baumeister, R. F., & Boone, A. L. (2004). High self-control predicts good adjustment, less pathology, better grades, and interpersonal success. Journal of Personality, 72(2), 271–324. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0022-3506.2004.00263.x
- Manapat, P. D., Edwards, M. C., MacKinnon, D. P., Poldrack, R. A., & Marsch, L. A. (2019). A psychometric analysis of the Brief Self-Control Scale. Assessment, 28(2), 395–412. https://doi.org/10.1177/1073191119890021
Vietnamese translation
A Vietnamese translation of every item, with sample-size advice and studies that used the scale, is on the Vietnamese page for this scale.