Multidimensionality of locus of control and self-esteem.

Abstract

Fish and Kacabenick ( 1971) and Ryckman and Sherman ( 1973) investigated the relationship between Rotter's (1966) unidimensional, locus of control construct and selfesteem in college students. In both studies, students with higher self-esteem tended to be more internally oriented. Since recent research (Reid & Ware, 1973) has indicated that the locus of control construct is multidimensional rather than unidimensional, a newly devised measure by Levenson (1974) was used to examine the relationship between the various dimensions of locus of control tapped by her measure and self-esteem. Levenson's scale has three separate components: ( a ) a Personal Scale which assesses an individual's perceived personal control over events; ( b ) a Powerful-others Scale which measures the degree to which others control the person's reinforcers; and ( c ) a Chance Scale which measures the extent to which an individual believes his reinforcers occur randomly. It was expected that people with higher self-esteem would tend to be internally or~ented across all three dimensions. Levenson's scale and Janis and Field's (1959) Feelrngs of Inadequacy Scale were administered to 141 women in introductory psychology to check the correlations. The Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale (Crowne & Marlowe, 1960) was also given. The data yielded small but significant correlations for all three locus of control dimensions and self-esteem, as expected. The partial rs with the minor effects of social desirability held consrant were as follows: Personal Control ( r = -.20, p < ,025). Powerful-others ( s = -.26. p < ,005 ) , and Chance ( r = -.16, p < .05 ) . The partial r for I-E scores summed across the three dimensions and self-esteem was -.30 ( p < ,005). For Personal Control, the mean was 36.01 ( S D = 5.76); for Powerful-others, the mean was 34.52 ( S D = 5.76); and for Chance, the mean was 32.80 ( S D = 5.34). The selfesteem mean was 63.83 ( S D = 14.04). Thus, female students with higher self-esteem tended to see themselves as exercising more personal control over events, as being more free from control by powerful others, and as living in environments where their reinforcers occur in a more highly predictable fashion than did students with lower self-esteem. These results support earlier findings about the relacionship between I-E and self-esteem and show, further, that locus of control as a tripartite (Levenson) construct is significantly associated with self-esteem.