1. I’d rather give orders than receive orders.
2. When it comes to watching TV‚ I want to choose the shows I watch.
3. It’s important to me that I can have my friends over whenever I want.
4. I like to be the boss when I am with my friends.
5. If people at home would listen to me more‚ things would be better.
6. I like it when my parents let me decide what to do.
7. My parents should decide what I get to eat for snacks.
8. My parents should check my homework to make sure it’s done.
9. I like it when my parents tell me what clothes to wear.
10. I like it when the gym teacher picks the teams for the games.
11. It’s okay when other people boss me around.
12. I like it when other kids tell me what to do.
13. I’d rather be a follower than a leader.
14. My friends usually know what’s best for me.
15. I’d rather do my own homework and make mistakes than listen to someone else’s ideas.
16. I try to avoid situations where someone else tells me what to do.
This scale measures the desire for control and endorsement of aggressive strategies for gaining control.
This instrument can be found on pages 138-139 of Measuring Violence-Related Attitudes‚ Behaviors‚ and Influences Among Youths: A Compendium of Assessment Tools‚ available online at: http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/YV_Compendium.pdf .
This measure produces a Total Desire for Control scale. Point values are assigned as follows:
Not at all true = 1
Not very true = 2
Sort of true = 3
Very true = 4
Items signifying desire to be controlled by others are reverse scored (4‚ 8‚ 10‚ 11‚ 12‚ 14 and 16). The final scale is created by averaging responses to 16 items. A maximum score of 4 indicates increased desire for self-control. A minimum score of 1 indicates decreased desire for self-control.
Guerra NG‚ Crawshaw VB‚ Huesmann LR. Sense of control and aggression in urban children. Champaign‚ IL: University of Illinois‚ 1993. (Unpublished).