Negative ST Dimension. The same procedures were followed for the negativeST dimension. The scree plot from the initial principal components analysis indicatedthat a four or a five factor solution should be retained. First, a five factorsolution was tested through principal axis factoring and oblique rotation. Theanalysis revealed that the four-factor solution should be interpreted because thefifth factor included only one substantive item. After eliminating items with loadingslower than .40 and items with similar loadings on more than one factor, thefinal solution included 21 items. The four factors explained 58.70% of the totalvariance and factor loadings ranged from .40 to .73. Factors were labeled accordingto the items with the highest loadings. The highest loadings in the first factorwere “I think I’ll stop trying” and “I can’t keep going”, and the factor was labeled‘disengagement’. The highest loadings in the second factor were “I am not goingto reach my goal” and “I’m wrong again” and the factor was labeled ‘worry’. Thehighest loadings in the third factor we “I’m hungry” and “I want to take a shower”,and the factor was labeled ‘irrelevant thoughts’. Finally, the highest loadings inthe fourth factor were “my legs/arms are shaking from tiredness” and “my bodydoesn’t help me today”, and the factor was labeled ‘somatic fatigue.’Combined Positive and Negative ST. Finally, the solutions that emerged for thetwo ST dimensions were tested in a single exploratory factor analysis to testwhether a 2-general-factor (positive—negative ST) or an 8-factor solution inaccordance to the separate analyses would emerge. Principal axis factoring withoblique rotation supported the 8-factor interpretation. The eight factors explained57.05% of the total variance and factor loadings ranged from .36 to .69. Theresults of the exploratory factor analysis are presented in Table 1. Descriptivestatistics, Pearson’s correlations and Cronbach’s alpha coefficients between thesubscales are presented in Table 2.