ABSTRACT
Developing an evidence base on the effects of self-control on health behavior and related outcomes is inextricably linked to the need for conceptually relevant, valid, and reliable measures of the psychological and behavioral constructs involved. Different perspectives on self-control entail the type of measures used and its defining features. Trait or dispositional conceptualizations of self-control seek to develop psychometrically sound self-report instruments that exhibit adequate face, internal, and construct validity as well as optimal concurrent, predictive, and nomological validity against conceptually related measures (see Hoyle & Davisson, Chapter 7 of this volume). Individual difference conceptualizations of self-control have also focused on behavioral measures that tap into the key defining features of self-control including impulse control and response inhibition, executive functioning, and active self-regulation.
