Strive to Avoid Inferiority Scales

Abstract

The Striving to Avoid Inferiority Scales (SAIS), developed by Gilbert and colleagues (2007), is a comprehensive, two-part psychological scale designed to quantify competitive striving that is motivated primarily by the avoidance of negative social outcomes. This instrument assesses the psychological insecurity underlying the need to compete, rather than measuring intrinsic ambition. Part One (31 items) measures fundamental beliefs concerning self-worth and achievement, distinguishing between maladaptive Insecure Striving (the necessity of competing to be valued) and adaptive Secure Non-Striving (unconditional acceptance independent of success or failure).

Part Two of the SAIS investigates the specific fears that drive this insecure competitive behavior, isolating three distinct dimensions of threat avoidance. These include the fear of Losing Out (missing opportunities or falling behind), the fear of being Overlooked (passive social exclusion or marginalization), and the fear of Active Rejection (being actively shamed, criticized, or pushed away due to failure). The scale is a valuable tool for examining how competitive pressure links to psychological distress, including anxiety and depression.

Keywords

Striving, competition, inferiority, social comparison, acceptance, shame, rejection, insecure striving, secure non-striving, psychological assessment, depression, anxiety, psychometrics.

Authors

Gilbert, P., Broomhead, C., Irons, C., McEwan, K., Bellew, R., Mills, A., Gale, C., Knibb, R.

Purpose

The primary purpose of the Striving to Avoid Inferiority Scales is to provide a quantitative measure of how much an individual’s self-worth is contingent upon external validation derived from successful competition and achievement. This scale was specifically formulated to explore the maladaptive aspects of competition—the motivation to strive not for internal fulfillment or mastery, but purely to avoid perceived negative social outcomes such as rejection, marginalization, or the feeling of inferiority.

The SAIS provides researchers and clinicians with a unique tool to differentiate between adaptive, secure motivations and those competitive drives fueled by deep-seated insecurity. By isolating the specific fears measured in Part Two, the instrument helps clarify the psychological mechanisms that link intense competitive pressure to adverse mental health outcomes, including heightened levels of stress, anxiety, and clinical depression, thereby aiding in targeted therapeutic interventions.

Construct

The SAIS measures a complex, multifaceted construct centered on the relationship between social comparison and conditional self-worth based on achievement. The scale is organized into five distinct subscales spanning two major parts, reflecting different aspects of competitive motivation and associated fears.

• Insecure Striving (Part One): This subscale captures the belief system that successful competition and achievement are essential for maintaining personal value and avoiding the status of being inferior (e.g., “Life is a competition,” “To be valued by others I have to strive to succeed”).
• Secure Non-Striving (Part One): This subscale measures the opposite orientation—the degree to which an individual feels a sense of unconditional acceptance and intrinsic value from others, irrespective of their performance, success, or failure (e.g., “Others will accept me even if I fail”).
• Losing Out (Part Two): This factor assesses the specific fear related to missing crucial life opportunities or falling behind one’s peers if competitive striving behavior ceases.
• Overlooked (Part Two): This factor measures the fear of passive exclusion, encompassing concerns about being ignored, forgotten, marginalized, or not receiving necessary social attention.
• Active Rejection (Part Two): This factor captures the fear of active social punishment, such as being criticized, shamed, pushed away, or explicitly excluded by social groups due often to perceived failure or non-performance.

Validity

The validity of the SAIS was established through its original validation study (Gilbert et al., 2007), focusing primarily on concurrent and construct validity. Concurrent validity was demonstrated by examining the scale’s relationship with established measures of psychological distress. High scores on the maladaptive subscales (Insecure Striving, Losing Out, Overlooked, and Active Rejection) consistently correlated positively and significantly with elevated scores on measures of anxiety, stress, and depression, supporting the scale’s ability to measure a risk factor for poor mental health outcomes linked to competitive pressure.

Construct validity is further supported by the clear theoretical differentiation captured by the Part One subscales. The successful operational separation between Insecure Striving and Secure Non-Striving confirms that the SAIS successfully captures two distinct orientations toward social competition and acceptance, reinforcing its ability to measure conditional versus unconditional self-worth.

Reliability

The SAIS demonstrated generally good to acceptable internal consistency reliability across its five subscales, as assessed using Cronbach’s alpha coefficients in the initial 2007 validation study. These coefficients indicate the degree to which items within each subscale reliably measure the same underlying construct.

• Insecure Striving: 0.84
• Losing Out: 0.84
• Overlooked: 0.80
• Active Rejection: 0.79
• Secure Non-Striving: 0.69

The majority of the subscales exhibit strong internal consistency (coefficients above 0.79). The Secure Non-Striving subscale, while acceptable for research purposes, shows slightly lower internal consistency (0.69), suggesting that its items may be less tightly correlated compared to the four factors related to insecure striving and fear avoidance.

Factor Analysis

The underlying structure of the Striving to Avoid Inferiority Scales is based on a distinct five-factor model confirmed during the psychometric development phase. This multi-factor structure is essential to the scale’s theoretical utility, allowing for the separation of competitive belief systems from specific emotional fears that motivate competitive behavior.

The scale is structurally divided such that Part One yields two primary, often inversely correlated factors: Insecure Striving and Secure Non-Striving. Part Two yields three distinct factors representing specific avoidance motivations: Losing Out, Overlooked (passive exclusion), and Active Rejection (active shaming/exclusion). The use of exploratory or confirmatory factor analysis ensured that the items loaded correctly onto these five hypothesized constructs, thereby confirming the scale’s structural validity and theoretical organization.

Instrument

Test Type: Self-report psychological scale.

Format: Multi-part questionnaire consisting of 31 items in Part One and 11 items across three sections in Part Two (Total 42 items).

Language Available: English (Original validation).

Population Group: General population, primarily focused on adults navigating competitive societal and occupational environments.

Age Group: Adults.

Population Details: Originally validated on samples relevant to social psychology research, including student and community adult populations.

Test Methodology: The scale uses two different response formats. Part One utilizes a five-point Likert scale (0=NEVER to 4=ALWAYS). Part Two utilizes a 10-point agreement scale (1=Don’t Agree to 10=Completely Agree).

Keywords

Insecure striving, secure non-striving, social comparison, competition, acceptance, shame, anxiety, depression, validation, psychometrics, self-worth, rejection fears.

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: N/A (Not provided in source material)

Affiliation Email addresses: N/A (Not provided in source material)

Correspondence Address: N/A (Not provided in source material)

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The Striving to Avoid Inferiority Scales (SAIS) was developed and published in 2007. Copyright is held by the authors: © Gilbert et al., 2007. Researchers or practitioners seeking to utilize the SAIS must typically seek permission from the primary author, Paul Gilbert, or the publisher of the validating journal, the British Journal of Social Psychology. Usage terms and any associated fees are determined by the copyright holder.

Reference’s

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.

Items of the 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

STRIVE TO AVOID INFERIORITY SCALES

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

2. OVERLOOKED

3. ACTIVE REJECTION

© Gilbert et aI.‚ 2007