STRIVE TO AVOID INFERIORITY SCALES

 PART 1
Sometimes people can see life as something of a competition. For example‚ we often call it the ‘Rat Race’. People can vary in how pressured they feel to strive and compete for things that are important to them. Below are a series of statements‚ which describe how people may think and feel about the need to strive and compete in life. Please circle a number to the right of the statements which best describes the degree to which a statement is true for you.
Please use the following scale:
0= NEVER 1 RARELY 2 SOMETIMES 3 MOSTLY 4 ALWAYS
1.          To be valued by others I have to strive to succeed
2.            If I make mistakes‚ I know other people will still like me
3.            Life is a competition
4.            People don’t have to succeed to prove themselves to others
5.            People judge you by how well you perform in comparison to other
6.            Win or lose‚ people accept me anyway
7.            I never feel my place in society is secure but have to strive to prove myself worthy of it
8.            Others will accept me even if I fail
9.            I need to match what other people achieve
10.         People are accepting of me without comparing me to others
11.         If I don’t strive to succeed‚ I’ll be left behind everyone else
12.         Whether I succeed or fail‚ people value me as a person
13.         People compare me to others to see if I match up
14.         14 I worry about failure because it means you can’t keep up and compete with other people in life
15.         I struggle to achieve things so that other people will not look down on me
16.         If I fail at something‚ I know others will help me try again
17.         Acceptance is something you have to earn and compete with other
18.         To get on in the world‚ you have to compete with others
19.         If you don’t keep up in looks or achievements others won’t bother with you
20.         If I don’t strive to achieve I’ll be seen as inferior to other people
21.         I don’t feel under pressure to prove myself to others
22.         People who can’t compete are seen as weak
23.         Even if I do succeed others will not believe it’s enough
24.         People accept me whether I’m successful or not
25.         Being competitive gives me a right to life
26.         I don’t have to be the best in life to feel wanted
27.         Others have to see me succeed otherwise it’s worthless
28.         I don’t have to prove myself to feel part of a group
29.         You are loved for what you are‚ not for what you achieve
30.         You earn respect by out-performing others
31.         Unless you can compete and keep up you get left behind
© Gilbert et aI.‚ 2007
PART 2
We are interested in the reasons people feel under pressure to compete. Below are a series of questions which tap this‚ each beginning with ‘If you don’t compete with others and succeed ….. ‘. Please circle the number which best describes how much you agree or disagree with each statement.
1. LOSING OUT
If you don’t compete with others and succeed …
You will not advance in life
Don’t agree
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
completely Agree
You will miss out on opportunities
Don’t agree
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
completely Agree
You will fall behind others
Don’t agree
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
completely Agree
2. OVERLOOKED
If you don’t compete with others and succeed …
People will overlook you
Don’t agree
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
completely Agree
People will not take much interest in you
Don’t agree
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
completely Agree
People will pass you over
Don’t agree
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
completely Agree
People will forget about you
Don’t agree
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
completely Agree
3. ACTIVE REJECTION
‚1
If you don’t compete with others and succeed …
Others will actively reject you
People will not take much interest in you
Don’t agree
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
completely Agree
Others will push you away
Don’t agree
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
completely Agree
Others will be critical and shame you
Don’t agree
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
completely Agree
Others will go out of their way to actively exclude you
Don’t agree
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
completely Agree
© Gilbert et aI.‚ 2007
SCORING
Part 1: The scale is scored as two subscales:
Insecure striving= 1‚ 3‚ 5‚ 7‚ 9‚ 11‚ 13‚ 14‚ 15‚ 17‚ 18‚ 19‚20‚22‚ 23‚25‚27‚ 3D‚ 31‚ Secure non-striving:2‚ 4‚ 6‚ 8‚ 10‚ 12‚ 16‚ 21‚ 24‚ 26‚ 28‚ 29‚
Part 2: Add items as shown into 3 subscales: losing out‚ overlooked‚ active rejection.
DESCRIPTION
Striving to avoid inferiority scale (SAIS): Part one
Part one of the SAIS is a 31 item scale designed by Gilbert et al. (2007) to measure a) beliefs about striving to compete to avoid inferiority (e.g. ‘If I don’t strive to achieve 1″11 The dark side of competition 125 be seen as inferior to other people’) and b) feelings of acceptance by others whether one succeeds or fails and not ha‎ving to compete (e.g. ‘Others will accept me even if I fail’). The striving element we refer to as ‘insecure striving’‚ while the second element we refer to as ‘secure non-striving’. instructions ask participants to rate statements describing how they think and feel about the need to strive and compete in life. Each item is answered using a five ­point Likert scale of 0 = never to 4 = always.
Striving to avoid inferiority scale: Part two
The second part of the SAIS focused on the reasons for people feeling under pressure to compete and avoid inferiority. We hypothesised three possible reasons: fear of losing out (not advancing in life‚ missing opportunities‚ and falling behind); being overlooked‚ which we regarded as a form of passive exclusion; and active rejection‚ involving being shamed and pushed away. Participants respond to statements on a 10-point scale ranging from ‘don’t agree’ to ‘completely agree’.
Parts one and two of the SAIS have shown good reliability with Cronbach’s alphas of .84 insecure striving; .69 secure non-striving; .84 losing out; .80 overlooked and .79 rejection (Gilbert et aI.‚ 2007).
REFERENCES

Gilbert‚ P‚ Broomhead‚ C.‚ Irons‚ C.‚ McEwan‚ K.‚ Bellew‚ R.‚ Mills‚ A.‚ Gale‚ C. & Knibb‚ R. (2007). Striving to avoid inferiority: Scale development and its relationship to depression‚ anxiety and stress. British Journal of Social Psychology‚ 46‚ 633-648.

© Gilbert et aI.‚ 2007

 

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