The Cross-Lagged Associations between Authentic Inner Compass and Self-Control among Chinese College Students

Jun Wei (), Xiting Zhou () and Shun-Lam Chan ()
Additional contact information
Jun Wei: Tsinghua University
Xiting Zhou: Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, Sichuan Province
Shun-Lam Chan: Tsinghua University

Applied Research in Quality of Life, 2025, vol. 20, issue 3, No 1, 897-915

Abstract: Abstract College students are in a critical period for defining their life direction, yet they often face external temptations that challenge the development of an authentic inner compass (AIC), underscoring the importance of their self-control during the same period. This study examined the reciprocal associations between the development of AIC and self-control among Chinese college students, who may experience heightened autonomy-related challenges in university settings. Participants (N = 2014; 64% female; mean age = 18.35 years at Wave 1) from eight Chinese public universities completed online surveys annually across four waves from 2020 to 2023, reporting on their AIC and self-control at least twice. AIC was assessed using Yu et al. (Current Psychology, 40, 887–894, 2021) adapted Chinese version of Assor’s (2012) Authentic Inner Compass Scale, and self-control was assessed by Tangney et al.’s (Journal of Personality, 72(2), 271–324, 2004) Brief Self-Control Scale. Cross-lagged panel modeling (CLPM) revealed positive reciprocal associations between AIC and self-control in general. Self-control consistently predicted increases in AIC each year, whereas AIC predicted changes in self-control only from junior to senior year, likely due to the heightened academic and career-related pressures faced by senior students. These findings underscore the critical role of college students’ self-control in forming their inner guiding schemas, which in turn reinforces self-regulatory capacities as they get to prepare for post-graduation development. This highlights the need for educational practices to strengthen self-control strategies throughout college while providing targeted support for senior students to clarify their inner goals, thereby fostering both personal growth and successful life planning.

Keywords: Authentic inner compass; Self-control; Chinese college students; Cross-lagged panel modeling (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11482-025-10448-8 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:ariqol:v:20:y:2025:i:3:d:10.1007_s11482-025-10448-8

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/journal/11482

DOI: 10.1007/s11482-025-10448-8

Access Statistics for this article

Applied Research in Quality of Life is currently edited by Daniel Shek

More articles in Applied Research in Quality of Life from Springer, International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().