Argiropoulou, Maria-Ioanna, ,

Roussos, Petros

Kalantzi- Azizi, Anastasia Department of Psychology, University

of Athens, Greece

Paper presented at Fedora- Psyche Conference, November 17- 19, 2010, Alicante, Spain

Assessing the volitional competences of Greek

academic procrastinators: The validation of the

Volitional Components Inventory

Paper presented at 13th Biennial Conference of the European Association for Research on Adolescence, August 29 to September 1, 2012, Spetses, Greece

Study’s target group and theoretical background

University students constitute a group with special characteristics

and needs associated to their developmental stage (emerging

adulthood)

Problematic Academic Procrastination which is characterized by

self-regulation difficulties in the form of delaying the start and/ or

completion of necessary and important tasks has been reported

in a very significant proportion of student population, both in

Greece and internationally

Kuhl’s Personality Systems Interaction Theory (PSI)

The failure to implement

intentions and the intention -

action gap is significantly

more often among

procrastinators than people

who don’t often exhibit

dilatory behaviors: This

demonstrates the importance

of volition in explaining self-

regulation failures.

An integrative theory of

personality that includes

not only personality, but

also motivational and

volitional processes (e.g.

Concentration, coping

with failure,

implementation of

intentions) within a

psychobiological

perspective.

Cognitive macro-systems

Intention Memory

(Thinking, planning intentions, -A)

Extension Memory

(Context- and self-knowledge,

feeling, preferences, +A)

Object Recognition

(categories, “entities“, discrepancy-sensitive

attention, -A)

Intuitive Behavior Control

(Automatic procedures, +A)

Personality

functions are

explained according

to interaction

between the 4

subsystems

The above pattern

of interactions is

modulated by

affective change

PSI-Theory & Volitional Components

Self –control (inner

dictatorship)

EM > IM

IBC > OR

maintains a concrete, active goal and shields it against competitive

goals or attractive action alternatives through the (temporary)

suppression of self-relevant needs, feelings, or interests – conscious

process facilitated by negative mood, supports others-directed/self

alien goals.

Self-regulation (inner democracy)

EM < IM

IBC < OR

Maintains self-congruent goals -Unconscious process facilitated by

positive mood, which in turn produces increased access to EM and

facilitates task performance, particularly where new and creative

solutions are important

Volitional

Inhibition EM << IM

IBC < OR

It consists of the lost of goal directed self-control functions under

burden or „load“

Self-inhibition EM < IM

IBC << OR

It consists of the lost of self-regulation functions under conditions of

threat (e.g. to self-esteem)

> or < = it is more or less activated, >> or << = it is chronically more or less activated

VCI-Short Version (52 –items*) (SSI-K3)

VCI-Short Scale

Self- Regulation

1. Self-determination

2. Positive self-motivation

3. Self-relaxation

Self-Control

4. Cognitive self-control

5. Affective self-control

Volitional Development (volitional competence during

challenging goals pursuit)

6. Readiness to act

7. Willpower

8. Ability to Concentrate

Self access 9. Action orientation after failure,

10. Felt sense

11. Integration of inconsistencies

General life stress 12. Demands

13. Threats

demands and threats.

*4 items/subscale to be answered in a 4-point Likert scale according to the degree of

agreement. It takes about 15 min. to be answered.

Our study

Aims & method

The aim of this study is to

adjust and evaluate the

Greek short version of the

Volitional Components

Inventory (Κuhl &

Furhman, 2004) in a sample

of University students

Questionnaires were

adjusted in the Greek

language using back

translation

Group administration during

university courses

Measures

Volitional Components

Inventory (Κuhl &

Furhman, 2004)

Procrastination Assessment

Scale-Students, (Solomon &

Rothblum, 1984)

General Procrastination

Scale (Lay, 1986)

The Trait Personality

Questionnaire

(Tsaousis,1999)

Demographic Characteristics

of Participants

Gender

Age

(yrs)

mean

Financial

support Year of studies

School

Department

%

Male

(Ν=95)

21,87 yrs

(S.D. 3,30)

Parents

exclusively:62,45

Personal work&

parents:29,3

1st yr:13,6

2nd yr:35,5

3rd yr:19,5

4th yr:16

5th yr:10,8

Over 5th yr:4,4

UOA: 25,2

NTUA: 41,9

Other: 32.9%

Female

(Ν=191)

Total

(Ν=293)

Results : Factorial structure of the VCI

Factors %

variance

Cronbach

alpha

1. “Self-regulation” 21,01 .82

2. “Self-control” 9,54 .36

3. “Volitional Development” 7,34 .88

4. “Self-access” 6,71 .86

5. “General life stress” 3,80 .87

Total variance explained 48,41

scales subscales alpha 1 2 3 4 5

Self-

Regulatio

n

Self-determination

.70 .42 .54 .59 .46

Positive self-motivation

.71

-.31 -.34

.65

.59

.64

.41

Self-relaxation .85

-.34 .62 .68 .72 .69

Self-

Control

Cognitive self-control

.77 -.405 -.39 -.35

.41

.50

.56

.52

Affective self-control

.80 .76 .77 .58 .77

Volitional

Developm

ent

Readiness to act

.78 -.56 -.67 -.37 -.66

.33

.47

.34

Willpower .79 .53 .68 .80

.645

Ability to Concentrate

.84 .47 .48 .44 .58

.46

.52

.58

.45

Self-

Access

Action Orient, after failure

.79 .69 .73 .68 .56

Felt sense .71 .73 .56 .59 .55

Integration of inconsistencies

.68

.59

.66

.47

.52

General

life stress

Demands .74 .40 .66 .79 .86

threats .84 .65 .78 .75 .79

Relationships between scales

Self-regulation + Volitional development (.37**)

+ Self access (.42**),

- General life stress (-.21**)

Self-control + Volitional development (.21**)

+ Self access (.23**)

Validity of VCI: Correlations between VCI & procrastination

and personality measures

VCI scales PASS GPS Neurotiscism Conscientiousness

Self-regulation -.26** -.26** -.67** .23**

Self-control -.16** -.17** -.22** .16*

Volitional

development

-.58** -.74** -.35** .60**

Self-access -.42** -.35** -.60** .33**

General life

stress

.21** .16* .23** -.14*

Validity Of VCI: multiple regressions for the prediction of

general and academic procrastination from VCI sub-scales

Independent variables

General procrastination

PASS

Beta Βeta

Self-regulation -.00 -.02

Self-control -.03 -.02

Volitional development -.79*** -.50***

Self-access .13* -.10

General life stress .05 .08

Total R Square .55*** .36*** Note. * p<.05; *** p<.001.

conclusions It is theory based (on PSI Theory)

It is reliable and valid as demonstrated

by its correlations with personality and

procrastination measures

Factor structure was confirmed. The 5

factors explained 48,41% of the total

variance , they correspond in number

to those postulated by theory as well as

to the empirical foundlings of the

validation of the original (German) as

well as the Spanish and Mexican

version

It is potentially useful in assessment,

prevention and treatment of academic

procrastination

The Greek version

of the Volitional

Components

Inventory (Κuhl &

Furhman, 2004) has

proved to be a

reliable instrument

for both clinical and

research purposes: