As individuals mature, increasing responsibility is taken for life events, but there is variation in this maturation from one individual to another. These individual differences can be observed in the doctoral candidate's acceptance of responsibility for completing the doctoral dissertation. The Responsibility Scale was completed by 142 graduates and 97 nongraduates (all but dissertations [ABDs]) in a college of education. A principal components analysis of the scale indicated that two factors underlie responses. The scale appears useful for assessing attitudes of doctoral candidates toward responsibility for dissertation tasks and for planning student advising based on these attitudes.
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