Children's Locus Research Articles

Is care by grandparents or parents better for children's non-cognitive skills? Evidence on locus of control from China

This study investigates the effect of grandparental involvement in childcare on children's locus of control (LOC), which is an important non-cognitive skill that affects children's future development. We use data from the China Family Panel Studies, which is a nationally representative survey, and employ instrumental variables to address the endogeneity of family childcare choice. We find that children with grandparental care have more external LOC than children in the sole care of their parents do; that is, they are more likely to attribute individual success to external factors, such as luck, fate, and family background. This finding is robust to different measures of grandparental involvement in childcare and different model specifications, as well as a minor violation of the exclusion restriction of the instruments. We further examine the potential mechanisms underlying this effect. Grandparents have more external LOC than parents do, which can affect children's LOC through intergenerational transmission of LOC. Their parenting attitudes and styles are also different from parents' in that grandparents take less responsibility for children's academic performance than parents do and are less strict with children. In addition, grandparental care induces adverse effects on children's family environment.

Childhood deprivation experience, family pathways, and socioemotional functioning.

Using the ECLS-K, a dataset following a nationally representative cohort of children from kindergarten through 8th grade in the United States (N ≈ 9,250), this study fills the following knowledge gaps. We captured childhood economic experiences by incorporating multiple forms of exposures to income-based deprivation-poverty depth (i.e., the severity of deprivation), spells (i.e., length of time in poverty), and income volatility (i.e., fluctuations in family income)-with a latent class analysis. We also examined how different patterns of economic experiences shaped adolescents' socioemotional functioning through family stress (parental depressive symptoms and punitive parenting) and family investment (provision of stimulating materials and parental school involvement) pathways via structural equation modeling. Our analysis indicated 6 classes of deprivation, and these deprivation patterns had both direct and indirect significant associations with children's locus of control and internalizing behaviors. Our structural equation modeling results further indicated that deprivation was associated with parental depressive symptoms, which were, in turn, associated with parents providing less cognitively stimulating materials to children and engaging less in children's school activities. These disadvantages were associated with unfavorable socioemotional functioning in 8th grade. The findings highlight the importance of family practitioners and psychologists recognizing and acting on the interconnections among deprivation, inequity, and child well-being. Our results also suggest considering variations in economic experiences and mechanisms when developing informed policies and programs. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Bullying Victimization and Developmental Trajectories of Internalizing and Externalizing Problems: The Moderating Role of Locus of Control Among Children.

This longitudinal study examined the developmental trajectories of internalizing and externalizing problems, as well as the moderating role of children's locus of control on the relations between traditional and cyberbullying victimization and developmental trajectories of internalizing and externalizing problems. A total of 4180 Chinese elementary school students (Mage = 9.90years) completed measures of bullying victimization (Time 1), locus of control (Time 1), internalizing and externalizing problems (from Time 1 to Time 5, 6-month intervals). Latent growth curve analyses indicated (a) internalizing problems first gradually decreased and then increased across time, whereas externalizing problems decreased slowly and remained steady over time; (b) both traditional and cyberbullying victimization served as risk factors for internalizing and externalizing problems; however, the effects of traditional bullying victimization on internalizing and externalizing problems were stronger than those for cyberbullying victimization; (c) locus of control moderated the relations between traditional bullying victimization and developmental trajectories of internalizing and externalizing problems. Consistent with cognitive diathesis-stress models, children who experienced higher levels of traditional bullying victimization and reported an external locus of control were more likely to experience internalizing and externalizing problems. This study also identified meaningful gender differences. Implications for the prevention of behavior problems were discussed.

Pemberdayaan Relawan Dalam Upaya Penanggulangan Kekerasan Terhadap Anak

Child abuse in Indonesia is increasing every year. In 2011 there were 2178 cases of violence, in 2012 there were 3512 cases, in 2013 there were 4311 cases, in 2014 there were 5066 cases (KPAI, 2015). Of these cases, there were 5 of the highest cases from 2011 to April 2015, namely (1) children dealing with the law recorded 6006 cases, (2) cases of care 3160, (3) education cases 1764, (4) health cases and drugs 1366 and ( 5) cases of pornography and cybercrime 1032. Where also need to be known that there are 3 child locus of violence, namely: family environment, school environment and community environment. Many parents consider child abuse to be a natural thing. These acts of violence can have both physical and psychological impacts. Both parents and the public do not understand the existence of hazards that threaten child safety and awareness of the need for child protection from threats of violence and sexual crimes are still low. This condition is clearly very alarming and requires precautionary measures for subsequent sacrifices involving various parties. The government does have to take the main part of the prevention effort, both through impartial policy formulation and applicable operational programs. In addition, various social organizations must also be seriously involved in their efforts to anticipate more violence and sexual crimes against children. The Community Partnership Program (PKM) is packaged by designing a social movement together by forming a volunteer group to protect children from the Panggungharjo Village community as an effort to prevent and deal with cases of violence against children. The method used in this activity includes TOT or child protection volunteer training in Panggungharjo Village can be described as a pyramid, in line with the pyramid of psychosocial recovery services.Keywords: Empowerment, Volunteer, Countermeasures, Child Violence

The impact of artificial wall climbing as a recreational activity on children's locus of control

The aim of this research is to determine the effects of artificial wall climbing - which was performed by primary school students- as a recreative activity on children’s locus of control. Artificial wall climbing represents itself as a learning point beyond a sportive activity while creating an opportunity for participants to discover the limits of their own and that of others’, and opening a path for learning through experience by rendering the participants active rather than passive.The research was designed as one group pre-test – post-test model. The sample of the study is the same as the study population. 40 (15 female, 25 male) students studying in 7th and 8th grades of primary school attended voluntarily in this study. Climbing practices were determined according to students' free time. Climbing practices were planned to be 90 minutes each. It is organized two days in a week between at least twenty-four hours. The test lasted 6 weeks in total. The activity which started with warm-up exercises suited for the age group was configured as a developmental schema as it started with top rope and extended to lead climbing route again on the climbing routes suited for the age groups. During the practice, it was ensured to provide knowledge and skills for not only climbing skills but also for other topics such as basic knowledge of climbing techniques, basic knots and belaying. The practice lasted six weeks and the questionnaire was applied before and after.To determine whether participants had a tendency towards externalizing or internalizing bias, "Nowicki-Strickland Locus of Control Scale" was used.As a result of the statistical analysis, it was observed that there are significant differences between pre-test and the difference of differences regarding the gender discrepancy and between pre-test and post-test scores regarding the total scores (p<0.05).The group of activities carried out for the artificial wall climbing led to a positive development in the children’s perception of locus of control and it was seen that children's beliefs on what’s happening around them is under their control and they can turn their lives in whichever direction they want were positively influenced.

Early Home-Life Antecedents of Children's Locus of Control.

Children’s external locus of control has been linked to a wide variety of negative academic achievement, personality, and social adjustment outcomes. The purpose of this study was to discover which features of early home environment may facilitate the development of external as opposed to internal control expectancies in children. We use an exposome approach to analyze data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) cohort study, a longitudinal study starting in pregnancy in England in 1990–1992. Details of parents and their study children were collected prospectively, and children’s locus of control was assessed at age 8 using an abbreviated form of the most frequently used measure of children’s locus of control (Nowicki-Strickland Internal External locus of control scale). A series of stepwise logistic regression analyses were undertaken to determine the strongest independent associations. The final model (n = 4,075 children) comprised 13 variables – those with the strongest associations with the child becoming externally oriented were two that were positive indicators of the mother being distracted (TV on almost the whole time, and a consideration that pets should be treated as members of the family), three that were indicators of protective (negative) effects of interaction between mother and child (child was breast fed, mother read stories to the child, mother cuddled the baby when he/she woke at night), and two divergent indicators of maternal health behavior (more frequent cleaning of the child’s hands before a meal which was associated with a heightened risk of become external, and providing a healthy-type of diet, which was associated with a reduced risk of becoming external). The findings suggest that inadequate early maternal interaction with the child is associated with an increased risk of the child being externally oriented by the age of 8.

Parenting styles and bullying at school: The mediating role of locus of control

The current study examined the mediating role of children's locus of control in the relation between parenting styles and bully–victim experiences at school. Participants were 447 students aged 10 and 11 years old from 13 different elementary, urban, and rural schools in Cyprus. Analyses using structural equation modeling showed that parenting styles predict the development of these experiences differently. Specifically, authoritarian parenting is positively associated to bully–victim experiences at school, while authoritative parenting is negatively associated to the same variables. Furthermore, the findings indicated mediation effects, with locus of control being a full mediator in the relationship between authoritative parenting style and bully–victim experiences and a partial mediator in the relationship between authoritarian parenting style and bully–victim experiences at school. Nonrecursive reciprocal models confirmed the theoretically driven direction of the effect from parenting styles to bullying and victimization through the mechanism of locus of control. Multigroup analyses of invariance showed that gender moderated the mediation models for the authoritative and the authoritarian parenting styles.

Development of the Children's Sport Locus of Control Scale

We developed the Children's Sport Locus of Control Scale (CSLCS) based on Rotter's (1954) social learning theory. Participants were 750 fifth- and sixth-grade elementary school students. We developed the scale through a series of analyses, including item analysis, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, simultaneous multigroup covariance analysis, and criterion-related validity analysis. The CSLCS comprises 12 items, of which 6 items measure ability and responsibility in the internal control dimension, and 6 items measure environment and chance in the external control dimension. The results of the analyses confirmed that this scale has good reliability, validity, and measurement invariance, and that it also satisfies all fit measures. The 6 measures of internal locus of control in the CSLCS are suited for measuring children's sport locus of control, and the measurement results will not differ across gender. Finally, we offer suggestions to future researchers.

P01-334-Investigation the role of mother's parenting styles on locus of control and self – concept of children

Introduction&ObjectivesThe present study investigated the relationship between mother's attitudes towards child rearing practices with child perception of those styles, locus of control and self – concept.MethodThe sample consisted of 388 third grade males in the junior high school students and their literate were selected from five educational districts who completed the Parental Authority Questionnaire, the Parenting Style Survey, the Nowicki – Strickland Locus of Control Scale and Tennessee Self- concept Test. The data were analyzed using Pearson correlation formula and Anova.ResultsThe findings of the study are so follow: The relationship between mother's attitude toward child rearing practice and child's perception of those styles was not statistically significant. The relationship between mother's attitude toward child rearing practice, child locus of control and self-concept were not significant, but the relationship between child's perception of their mother's parenting style, child's locus of control and self-concept were statistically significant. The relationship between locus of control and self-concept was also statistically significant.

The Relationship Between Children's Locus of Control and Their Anticipatory Anxiety

This study investigated the relationship between children's locus of control and their state anxiety scores, and determined whether children's locus of control could predict their state anxiety scores before academic examinations. A test-retest within subjects design was used. 519 school children were invited to participate in the study. Participants were asked to respond to the Chinese version of the Nowicki-Strickland locus of control scale and state anxiety scale for children in stressful and nonstressful situations. The data were collected in 2005. There were significant strong positive correlations between the state anxiety and locus of control scores in the period before academic examinations. Multiple regression analysis showed that the Nowicki-Strickland locus of control score was a good predictor of children's state anxiety in a stressful situation. This study supports the use of the Nowicki-Strickland locus of control scale as a screening tool to identify school children who are most likely to exhibit high levels of anxiety before academic examinations. Understanding children's locus of control in advance is a necessary step toward designing appropriate interventions to reduce their stress and bolster their coping mechanisms.

353 POSTER Therapeutic potential of YM155 alone and in combination with chemotherapeutics against human non-small cell lung cancer in carcinoma xenograft models

We examined the effectiveness of instruments that describe a child's locus of control and perceived self-competence as predictors of outcome in the treatment of encopresis. Fifty children 9 to 12 years of age completed such instruments prior to clinical interview. Clinicians were blind as to the results of these questionnaires and administered a standard encopresis protocol to all patients. Six to 17 months later, 45 (90%) of the patient's parents were interviewed to assess compliance and treatment outcome. Children who significantly improved had a more internal locus of control (P <0.05) and better compliance (P <0.05) as determined by two separate outcome variables. Locus of control and compliance were not, however, significantly correlated with each other; each appeared to have an independent association with outcome. There was no association between perceived self-competence and outcome. The positive association between locus of control and outcome was not mediated by socioeconomic status, age, duration of encopresis, severity of encopresis, gender, or time between initiation of treatment and follow-up. Measurement of locus of control in children with encopresis appears to be helpful in identifing a group at high risk for resistance of treatment.

THE INFLUENCES OF GROUPING ON THE LOCUS OF CHILDREN IN A CHILDREN'S HOME

This study examines on the locus of children with special care as they go through changes in their living environment of their home by interviewing. Main results are as follows: 1) When children do not have their proper loca, they walk around in their home to search for their loca; 2) When children have their proper loca, they can feel the sense of belonging and build up the sense of fellowship among one another; 3) When children have their proper loca, they try to claim own territory; 4) When a child's locus is shared with another person, that child seeks another locus to be alone

Parental interest in children's education, children's self‐esteem and locus of control, and later educational attainment: Twenty‐six year follow‐up of the 1970 British Birth Cohort

Few studies have investigated if mother's interest and father's interest in child's education are linked to educational attainment via their impact on child's self-esteem and locus of control. (1) To investigate (after controlling for known confounding factors) the long-term effect of mother's and father's interest in child's education at age 10 and child's locus of control and self-esteem at age 10 in educational attainment at age 26; and (2) to explore if mother's interest and father's interest in child's education are linked to child's educational attainment via their effect in increasing child's self-esteem and internal locus of control. The study used longitudinal data from sweeps of the 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70). The initial sample was those 1,737 men and 2,033 women with valid data on age 10 self-esteem, locus of control, father's interest, mother's interest, and age 26 educational attainment. Of these, 1,326 men and 1,578 women were included in the final analysis. The birth to age 10 factors that were controlled for were birth weight, parental social class, socio-economic disadvantage, emotional/behavioural problems, cognitive ability, and mother's educational attainment. At the multivariate level, internal locus of control and mother's interest (but not self-esteem) were significantly related to educational attainment in both men and women. Father's interest was a significant predictor of educational attainment only in women. Parent's interest was not linked to educational attainment via its impact on child's self-esteem or locus of control. Self-esteem predicted educational attainment in both genders by increasing internal locus of control, and fathers' interest predicted educational attainment in men by increasing mother's involvement. Although mothers' and fathers' interest in their children's education were not linked to educational attainment via their impact on children's self-esteem or locus of control, they were significant predictors of educational attainment especially in daughters.

Chinese translation and validation of the Nowicki-Strickland locus of control scale for children

The objective of this study is to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Chinese version of the Nowicki-Strickland Locus of Control Scale for Children for its utility in clinical research and nursing practice. The scale was translated from the original English language into the Chinese language and the reliability and validity of the translated scale were tested. Results showed that there was high test re-test reliability, acceptable internal consistency reliability, appropriate content validity, concurrent validity and construct validity. It is concluded that the psychometric properties of the Chinese version of the Nowicki-Strickland Locus of Control Scale for Children presented in this paper supports its feasibility as a research instrument to measure children's locus of control objectively and appropriately in the Chinese population.

LOCUS OF CONTROL AND SELF-ESTEEM AS STRESS-MODERATORS OR STRESS-MEDIATORS IN PARENTALLY BEREAVED CHILDREN

Parentally bereaved children's locus of control and self-esteem were examined as stress-moderators or stress-mediators of their internalizing and externalizing mental health problems. Seventy-six children ages 8 to 16 and their surviving parent were assessed 4 to 34 months after the death. Stress, locus of control, and self-esteem were measured by child report questionnaires. Internalizing and externalizing mental health problems were measured by child report on both questionnaires and a structured interview and by parent report questionnaires. The results revealed that self-esteem was a significant mediator of the relations between stress and both child and parent reports of internalizing problems but not externalizing problems. No significant mediation effects were found for locus of control. Neither locus of control nor self-esteem was a significant moderator of the relations between stress and children's internalizing and externalizing problems. Implications for understanding parentally bereaved children's mental health problems and for developing preventive interventions are discussed.

Observed maternal strategies and children's health locus of control in low-income Mexican Americans.

Observed maternal strategies and children's health locus of control in low-income Mexican Americans.

School Age Workaholic Children: Type A Behaviors, Self-esteem, Anxiety and Locus of Control*

The relationships between childhood workaholism and Type A behaviors among school‐age children were examined in terms of their self‐esteem, anxiety, and locus of control. A total of 40 elementary‐school children, their parents, and teachers took a battery of tests. No relationships were found between child Type A behaviors as rated by parents and children's self‐perceived workaholism, self‐esteem, anxiety, and locus of control. There was no relationship between parental workaholism and any of the child instrument scores. Teachers’ competitiveness ratings of children were positively related to children's internal locus of control and social self‐esteem. Teachers’ impatience ratings of children were negatively related to children's school self‐esteem. Workaholism among the children was positively related to their anxiety and inversely related to their self‐esteem and internal locus of control. Child anxiety also was inversely related to childhood self‐esteem and internal locus of control. *This work was funded in part by a grant from the Foundation of the University of North Carolina and the State of North Carolina. The author wishes to thank Dr. Robert Algozzine for his invaluable statistical assistance.

How Mothers' Parenting Styles Affect Their Children's Sexual Efficacy and Experience

The relations among mothers' parenting styles and adolescents' sexual self-efficacy and sexual experience were examined in a sample of 253 British adolescent-mother pairs. Also explored was whether adolescents' self-efficacy would be positively or negatively related to their sexual experience. Mothers' parenting styles were expected to influence children's locus of control, based on the theory that mothers who are involved with their children and mothers who stress independence contribute to the development of an internal locus of control in their children, increasing the children's feelings of sexual self-efficacy. Structural equation modeling was used to test a longitudinal model. The results support the assumption that maternal involvement leads to higher levels of self-efficacy, whereas maternal control was associated with lower levels of self-efficacy. Sexual self-efficacy was associated with higher levels of sexual experience. Implications and limitations of the study are discussed.

The Relationship Between Parental Locus of Control and Children's Perceptions of Control

Parents' beliefs about locus of control in relation to their children were measured. Previous studies have failed to find a relationship between parental locus of control and children's locus of control. The results of this study indicate that an external parental locus of control was related to children's attributing their successes and failures to unknown causes. There was also a strong correlation between parental locus of control and children's behavior toward the parent.

Origins of generalized control expectancies: reported child stress and observed maternal control and warmth.

The relations among reported stressful events, maternal control and warmth, and children's locus of control of reinforcement were investigated. Fifty-five 2nd-grade. U.S. children completed the Children's Nowicki-Strickland Internal-External Locus of Control Scale, and their mothers completed a modified form of Coddington's Life Events Scale for their child. Mother and child also were videotaped while they worked together on three puzzles. The results indicated that, compared with children with external control expectancies, children with internal control expectancies had experienced less stress in their lives. Furthermore, when observed interacting with their children, mothers of children with internal control expectancies were rated as displaying less control and more warmth than mothers of children with external control expectancies. The findings generally are consistent with predictions based on Rotter's social learning theory for the development of individual differences in generalized control expectancies.