Personal Growth Initiative Scale (PGIS)

Abstract

The Personal Growth Initiative Scale (PGIS) is a widely utilized psychometric instrument designed to assess an individual’s proactive engagement in the process of Personal Growth Initiative (PGI). It measures the intentional and active pursuit of self-change and self-improvement, differentiating between individuals who merely desire growth and those who actively plan and execute the steps necessary for goal attainment. The scale operationalizes PGI as a multifaceted psychological construct encompassing readiness, planning, and active behavior, providing a concise measure of an individual’s capacity to initiate and sustain personal development efforts.

Keywords

Personal Growth Initiative, PGI, self-improvement, action planning, goal setting, intentional change, psychological assessment, self-direction

Authors

Deborah L. Robitschek, J. J. Ryan, S. L. Lent, M. E. Lent, A. L. Lent

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Purpose

The primary purpose of the Personal Growth Initiative Scale (PGIS) is to quantify the degree to which an individual initiates and follows through on personal development goals. It serves as a valuable tool in both research and applied settings, particularly in counseling psychology, career development, and positive psychology.

By assessing an individual’s initiative, the scale helps researchers understand the mechanisms through which people actively manage life transitions and pursue self-defined objectives. Clinically, the PGIS can be used to identify clients’ strengths in areas related to proactive coping and self-directed change, informing therapeutic interventions aimed at enhancing agency and intentionality.

Construct

The Personal Growth Initiative (PGI) is the core construct measured by the PGIS. It is defined not simply as the motivation to change, but as the active, intentional, and effortful process of striving for self-improvement. Robitschek conceptualized PGI as consisting of four interrelated components:

• Readiness for Change: The awareness and motivation to acknowledge the need for growth and the willingness to pursue it.
• Planning: The ability to formulate specific goals and develop concrete, actionable steps toward achieving them.
• Using Resources: The capacity to identify and utilize internal (e.g., skills, self-efficacy) and external (e.g., social support, information) aids necessary for growth.
• Intentional Behavior: The actual execution of the plan and the persistence required to overcome obstacles and maintain momentum.

The scale items provided, often representing the PGIS-II (9-item short form), capture the essence of these components, focusing heavily on planning and intentional action.

Validity

Extensive psychometric research supports the validity of the PGIS. Evidence for criterion-related validity shows that higher PGIS scores are significantly correlated with positive outcomes, including academic achievement, life satisfaction, and psychological well-being. The scale demonstrates strong convergent validity through positive correlations with related constructs such as self-efficacy, proactive coping, and hardiness.

Furthermore, discriminant validity has been established by demonstrating that the PGIS is distinct from, though related to, measures of general psychological distress or simple motivation. The instrument effectively measures the unique contribution of active initiative in personal development, separating it from broader personality traits.

Reliability

The PGIS demonstrates excellent psychometric reliability across diverse populations. Studies consistently report high levels of internal consistency, with Cronbach’s alpha coefficients typically ranging from .90 to .94 for the full scale, and comparably high values for the 9-item short form (PGIS-II). This suggests that the items reliably measure the same underlying construct.

Test-retest reliability studies also confirm the stability of the PGIS scores over time, indicating that PGI is a relatively stable trait or characteristic, although it is amenable to development through intervention and experience.

Factor Analysis

Initial development of the PGIS utilized factor analysis to confirm its underlying structure. While the original 24-item scale was designed to reflect the four theoretical components (Readiness, Planning, Using Resources, Intentional Behavior), many researchers utilize the scale as a unidimensional measure, yielding a single, overall PGI score.

The 9-item version (PGIS-II), which features the items listed below, is most commonly analyzed and interpreted as a single-factor instrument, reflecting the overarching concept of Personal Growth Initiative. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) has generally supported the strong fit of a single-factor model for this abbreviated version across various cultural groups.

Instrument

Test Type: Self-report questionnaire

Format: The instrument uses a 6-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (Definitely disagree) to 6 (Definitely agree). Scores are summed across items to yield a total score, with higher scores indicating greater personal growth initiative.

Language Available: English (original), Spanish, Chinese, Turkish, and numerous other translations.

Population Group: General adult population, often utilized in college student populations and vocational counseling settings.

Age Group: Typically 18 years and older.

Population Details: The scale is appropriate for use with individuals across varying educational and socioeconomic backgrounds who possess basic literacy skills required for self-report measures.

Test Methodology: Scoring is achieved by summing the numerical responses for all items. No reverse scoring is typically required for the common versions of the scale. The total score reflects the overall strength of the respondent’s Personal Growth Initiative.

Keywords

Psychological assessment, self-improvement, vocational psychology, positive psychology, psychometric properties, scale development, intentionality, action orientation

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Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not uniformly available or applicable for all co-authors; typically requires individual researcher lookup.

Affiliation Email addresses: Contact information typically routed through the primary author’s university affiliation (e.g., Department of Educational Psychology, Texas Tech University for D. L. Robitschek).

Correspondence Address: Correspondence generally directed to the primary author’s institutional address listed in the foundational publications.

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The Personal Growth Initiative Scale (PGIS) was initially published in 1998/1999. The scale is widely considered to be available for non-commercial research and educational use, often requiring a direct request for permission from the primary author, Deborah L. Robitschek. Specific licensing fees may apply for commercial applications or large-scale clinical implementation, though academic use is frequently granted at no cost.

The primary reference detailing the psychometrics of the 9-item short form (PGIS-II) was published later than the original 24-item version.

Reference’s

The definitive source for the development and validation of the PGIS is:

• Robitschek, D. L. (1998). Personal Growth Initiative: The construct and its measure. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Maryland, College Park.
• Robitschek, D. L. (1999). Personal growth initiative: The construct and its measure. Measurement and Evaluation in Counseling and Development, 32(3), 183–198.
• Robitschek, D. L., & Cook, S. W. (1999). The Personal Growth Initiative Scale. In J. T. P. Cacioppo (Ed.), Sourcebook of adult assessment measures (pp. 43-60). Oxford University Press.

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Items of the Personal Growth Initiative Scale (PGIS)

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

Using the scale below‚ circle the number which best describes the extent to which you agree or disagree with each statement.

• 1 = Definitely disagree
• 2 = Mostly disagree
• 3 = Somewhat disagree
• 4 = Somewhat agree
• 5 = Mostly agree
• 6 = Definitely agree

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1. I know how to change specific things that I want to change in my life.
2. I have a good sense of where I am headed in my life.
3. If I want to change something in my life‚ I initiate the transition process.
4. I can choose the role that I want to have in a group.
5. I know what I need to do to get started toward reaching my goals.
6. I have a specific action plan to help me reach my goals.
7. I take ch‎arge of my life.
8. I know what my unique contribution to the world might be.
9. I have a plan for making my life more balanced.