Situational Referents of an Academic Setting and Locus of Control

Abstract

The study was designed to answer the following questions: whether the various situational influences of the school environment were perceived differentially by the student with regard to his locus of control, and which situational influence was most related to the academic achievement of the student? These questions were answered by administering the Intellectual Achievement Responsibility Questionnaire and two achievement tests to 1192 sixth and seventh grade students. Results indicated that those referents which were most perceptually distinct were parents/ teachers, peer/others, and achievement situations in which the tasks or goals were well defined. Overall, the situational influences most related to achievement were those which referenced parents, parental interaction, or the home environment.