Differences in the perceived spheres of control of selected college students in the aftermath of the pandemic

Abstract

A diligent search of published studies revealed that there is an apparent lack of scientific literature on Filipinos’ sense of control, specifically in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic. This study attempted to ascertain the respondents’ perceived level of control. 46 college students from a private school in Metro Manila volunteered as respondents. The Spheres of Control Scale13, which measures an individual’s sense of Personal, Interpersonal and Socio-political control was administered on the respondents. Based on the computed composite means of the respondents’ scores in the three domains, Personal control had the highest composite mean of 5.223, followed by Interpersonal control with 4.592 and lastly by Socio-political control with 4.334. Significant differences were found between Personal and Interpersonal control as well as between Personal and Socio-political control. The respondents’ perceived sense of Personal control was significantly higher than their perceived sense of Interpersonal control and their perceived sense of Socio-political control. These results could imply that for the respondents of this study, their perceived sense of Interpersonal control and Socio-political control may have been adversely affected by the uncertainties that they had experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic.