Virtue in Pursuit of Goals: A Goals-Based Approach to Patience Measurement

Abstract

In this paper, we provide a contextualized assessment of virtue through validation of a goals-based approach to measuring patience, the Goals-Based Virtue-Patience Scale (GBV-P). To assess virtue in a way congruent with its definition requires consideration of situational and contextual factors; however, most extant measures of virtue instead assess virtue at a decontextualized, global level (Ng & Tay, 2020). As such, we developed a contextualized and motivationally attuned goals-based assessment of the virtue of patience, the ability to remain calm in the face of frustration, suffering, or delay in goal pursuit. We engaged multilevel structural equation modeling to validate a new measure of patience in pursuit of goals nested within people. Across three studies (N = 798) assessing the GBV-P, data were consistent with reliability and structural validity tests, and associations of the new measure with other regulatory virtues or constructs (e.g., global patience, self-control, conscientiousness, perseverance, emotion regulation) as well as well-being (e.g., life satisfaction, goal orientation, meaning) and ill-being outcomes (e.g., depression and anxiety symptoms, loneliness, stress) provided evidence of convergent validity. Likewise, patience was differentially engaged depending on the goal domain and type; approach (vs. avoidance), interpersonal (vs. intrapersonal), and generativity goals were pursued with more patience.

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Templeton Religion Trust under Grant 0314 (2021-23); the opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of Templeton Religion Trust. All hypotheses were registered in OSF (https://osf.io/k9cda) and the data that support the findings of these studies are openly available in OSF at https://osf.io/g6zhs/. The authors report there are no competing interests to declare.

Authors’ contributions

Juliette L. Ratchford: Conceptualization, Methodology, Software, Formal analysis, Resources, Writing – Original Draft, Visualization, Funding Acquisition. Sarah Schnitker: Conceptualization, Writing – Review & Editing, Supervision, Funding Acquisition.

Open Scholarship

This article has earned the Center for Open Science badges for Open Data, Open Materials and Preregistered. The data and materials are openly accessible at https://osf.io/g6zhs/, https://osf.io/rsn39 and https://osf.io/k9cda.

Notes

1 Whereas measurement of all personality constructs (e.g., Big Five traits) is improved by contextualized assessment, the definitions of most personality traits do not carry the normative claims of virtues that require that activities are produced that are appropriate to the situation. Thus, whereas as contextualized assessment might be necessary for certain questions in relation to personality traits, the definitions of basic traits do not require a contextualized approach in the same way as virtues.