![]() ![]() ![]() These four results suggest that people with more power are more internal. Men tend to be more internal than women, Whites more internal than minorities, middle-class people more internal than lower-class people, and older people more internal than younger people. Locus of control differs along many dimensions. People who truly believe that fate controls everything are less likely to take control of their health. People who are external in locus of control are also less likely to make and keep dentist and doctor appointments they are also less likely to use birth control consistently. Some authors have argued that the victim mentality encourages self-loathing and the expectation of low functioning and achievement.Įxternality on health locus of control also leads to negative outcomes such as decreased success in stopping smoking or losing weight. Externality may also lead to a victim mentality, in which people blame others for their problems. Several studies have also linked externality to increased juvenile delinquency. Children with an internal locus of control see more reason to study and try hard because they believe it will make a difference externals believe that it won’t matter, compromising their performance. A widely publicized report by James Coleman and his colleagues concluded that internal locus of control was a better predictor of school achievement in minority children than any other variable. Externals have weakened self-control and a lessened ability to delay gratification (meaning that they have a difficult time choosing long-term gains over short-term pleasures, something necessary for many life situations, particularly college!)Įxternals also consistently achieve less in school, as shown in two meta-analyses and numerous individual studies. Externals report lower subjective well-being, are more likely to be depressed, display more anxiety, and cope poorly with stress. Research has consistently shown that externality is related to negative outcomes. Several scales (of both general and health locus of control) are multidimensional, as many researchers agree that external control should be divided into control by fate or chance and control by powerful others. Other scales measure more specialized aspects of control there has been an especially large amount of research on health locus of control. The most popular measure of locus of control in children is the Children’s Nowicki-Strickland Internal-External Control Scale. Most items are general, though a few deal with specific circumstances such as school (“In the case of the well-prepared student there is rarely if ever such a thing as an unfair test”) or world affairs (“By taking an active part in political and social affairs, the people can control world events”). For example, one of the pairs is “People’s misfortunes result from the mistakes they make” (internal) versus “Many of the unhappy things in people’s lives are partly due to bad luck” (external). Rotter’s measure consists of 23 forced-choice pairs the respondent must choose one of the two statements, one internally oriented and the other externally oriented. One of the first locus of control measures was Julian Rotter’s Internal-External Locus of Control Scale, first published in 1966 and used in thousands of articles. Some researchers have called locus of control a generalized expectancy- in other words, a person’s usual expectation about how things work. doi:10.1016/j.jad.2019.04.Locus of control is usually measured by questionnaires, just as personality traits are however, locus of control is more an attitude than a trait-it measures how one thinks the world works. Differential associations of locus of control with anxiety, depression and life-events: A five-wave, nine-year study to test stability and change. ![]() Hovenkamp-Hermelink JHM, Jeronimus BF, van der Veen DC, et al. Are there gender differences in locus of control specific to alcohol dependence? J Clin Nurs. Locus of control and the gender gap in mental health. New York: John Wiley & Sons 2011.Īwaworyi Churchill S, Munyanyi ME, Prakash K, Smyth R. Parental antecedents of locus of control of reinforcement: A qualitative review. ![]() Reliability and validity of the Multidimensional Locus of Control IPC Scale in a sample of 3668 Greek educators. Generalized expectancies for internal versus external control of reinforcement. Rotter, ed., Social Learning and Clinical Psychology. General principles for a social learning framework of personality study. ![]()
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