Self-Regulation of Behaviour: Students Versus other Adults

Abstract

The objective of this research is to compare self-regulation of behaviour of two Czech samples. The first one was the representative sample of Czech adults that consisted of 1060 respondents. The second sample was university students and consisted of 1244 respondents. The measuring tool was an adapted Self-Regulation Questionnaire of which two dimensions were used: Goal Orientation and Impulsivity. The findings showed no statistically significant differences between the two samples in either of the dimensions. Goal Orientation scores were higher than Impulsivity scores, which was in line with our assumptions. There were no statistically significant differences in Goal Orientation scores between genders, with the exception of prevalence of females in the student sample. Age appeared to be an important factor that affects scores in Goal Orientation in both samples, while in Impulsivity it only differentiated among the students. The level of education proved to be an important factor that differentiates among those with high and low impulsivity rather than in goal orientation