The adolescent self-regulatory inventory: The development and validation of a questionnaire of short-term and long-term self-regulation

This manuscript presents a study in which the factor structure and validity of the Adolescent Self-Regulatory Inventory (ASRI) were examined. The ASRI is a theoretically-based questionnaire that taps two temporal aspects of self-regulation (regulation in the short- and long-term). 169 students in the 6th, 8th, and 10th grades of a small, Midwestern school district completed self-report questionnaires focused on self-regulation, parenting behaviors, and psychological adjustment. 80 parents also participated. Confirmatory factor analyses demonstrated that the internal consistency of the long-term and short-term factors was satisfactory. Requirements for concurrent and construct validity were met. The ASRI also demonstrated incremental validity, as the inclusion of the long-term factor with a comparison questionnaire significantly increased the proportion of explained variance in adolescent-reported parental warmth, externalizing, and prosocial behavior. The ASRI has the potential to move research on self-regulation in adolescence in a viable new direction.