Rotter's Internal-External Locus Research Articles

Relationships among locus of control, coronary-prone behavior, and suicidal ideation.

This study examined how each of two factors, coronary-prone behavior and locus of control, are related to suicidal ideation in a college population. 43 students (23 men and 20 women) completed the Jenkins-Glass College Activity Survey, Rotter's Internal-External Locus of Control Scale, and a self-assessment questionnaire of suicidal ideation. Scores on Rotter's Internal-External Locus of Control and the Suicidal Ideation Scale were significantly positively correlated. A nonsignificant value obtained for scores on the Jenkins-Glass College Activity Survey and the Suicidal Ideation Scale.

Personality and Characteristic Work Attitudes of Persons with High, Moderate, and Low Political Tendencies

DuBrin's Office Politics Questionnaire, which measures a person's tendency to engage in office politics, was used in an exploratory study to examine the characteristics of persons with high, moderate, and low tendencies to use office politics. 71 MBA students completed the Office Politics Questionnaire (shortened by subsequent analysis to 50 items), the Mach IV, Rotter's Internal-External Locus of Control, Rosenberg's Self-esteem and social desirability scales, and six single-item measures of work attitude. The Office Politics Scale showed a significant Pearson correlation only with the Mach scale, suggesting that the politics scale may be largely a surrogate for Mach. Descriptive statistics comparing groups scoring high, moderate, and low political tendency on the politics scale suggest that people with high political tendency are somewhat higher in Machiavellianism and (although these differences were not statistically significant), higher in self-esteem, see other people as less competitive than themselves, see themselves as being less satisfied with their work. These are characteristics consistent with those proposed by others.

Relationship of Locus of Control to Achievement and Self-Concept in Education Majors

Numerous studies have examined locus of control with regard to a wide spectrum of social and academic behavior. Few studies have considered the construct in relation to specific undergraduate majors. The present study investigated locus of control and its relationship to achievement and self-concept in undergraduate majors in education. The purpose was to determine if internally controlled education majors achieved higher than education majors who scored as externally controlled. Also tested was the assumption that expectancy of control is related to positive self-feelings. University students enrolled in College of Education courses completed the Tennessee Self-concept Scale and the Rotter Internal-External Locus of Control Scale. Composite American College Test (ACT) scores and cumulative grade point averages were collected as well as information pertaining to age, sex, major, and type of financial assistance. Twelve variables discriminated significantly between students who scored as internal and external. Differences also were associated with age and sex. The findings suggest data which could be useful in assisting faculty to structure programs and counsel undergraduates who wish to teach. Findings also suggest additional questions which warrant study.

Rotter's internal-external scale: Confirmatory factor analysis and correlation with social desirability for alternative scale formats.

536 undergraduates completed alternative versions of Rotter's Internal–External Locus of Control Scale and the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale. 178 Ss completed the scales in their original formats (forced-choice and true/false, respectively), and 358 Ss completed a Likert instrument that incorporated both measures. It was hypothesized (a) that J. F. Watson's (see record 1982-29470-001) 2-factor structure for the forced-choice scale and B. E. Collins's (see record 1974-25219-001) 4-factor structure for the Likert version would be confirmed and (b) that both scales would exhibit significant social desirability correlation. A restricted factor analysis of the data confirmed the reported factorial structures, but the variance explained by the factors was small, and there was evidence that the scale may be tapping a unitary construct. Correlation with social desirability was found for the Likert data but not for the forced-choice results. However, data indicate that there may be problems with the interpretation of results that were based on use of the Marlowe-Crowne scale.

The Effect of High and Low Assertiveness on Locus of Control and Health Problems

The effect of high and low assertiveness on locus of control and health problems was examined with 78 direct-service workers in mental health and mental retardation settings in northeastern Pennsylvania. The direct-service workers completed the Rathus (1973) Assertiveness Schedule, the Rotter (1966) Internal-External Locus of Control Scale, and a health-problems inventory. Highly assertive individuals were found to be more internally controlled and to experience fewer health problems than were individuals low in assertiveness.

The relationship between externality and E, N, P and L: an experiment and review

Rotter's Internal-External Locus of Control Scale, and the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire were given to 241 male 16-yr-olds and 144 skilled and semi-skilled men. As hypothesized, externality was positively associated with the N and P scales, negatively related to L and independent of E.

Selected psychosocial characteristics of black unwed adolescent fathers

Adolescent fathers and nonfathers were compared as to their belief in a sense of personal control and responsibility for their own lives (locus of control); ability to optimistically trust others (interpersonal trust); taking an active orientation to life's demands and problems (coping style); and family/generational pattern of unwed parenthood. Participants were 24 unwed adolescent fathers and 27 unwed adolescent nonfathers, aged 15-19 years. Each participant completed a questionnaire containing a Rotter Internal-External Locus of Control Scale, the Rotter Interpersonal Trust Scale, the Behavioral Attributes of Psychosocial Competence, and a scale measuring family pattern of unwed parenthood. Results suggest that adolescent fathers are usually older, more likely to have been born out-of-wedlock, and less trusting than nonfathers. The implications for casework with adolescent fathers are discussed.

Cognitive development and locus of control as predictors of preschoolers' understanding of safety and prevention

Preschoolers' cognitive level and locus of control orientation and their parents' locus of control orientation were considered as possible predictors of children's abilities to differentiate between safe and unsafe situations (safety score) and specify preventive measures (prevention score). Individual interviews were conducted with 3- to 6-year-old children enrolled at a daycare center, and their parents completed the Rotter Internal-External Locus of Control and the Accident Locus of Control (ALOC) scales. As hypothesized, children's level of causal reasoning was positively correlated with their safety and prevention scores. A curvilinear relationship was evident relationship existed with prevention score. Fathers' ALOC score was the only parent measure that predicted children's safety score, while none of the parent measures were predictive of children's prevention score. The findings were discussed in terms of safety education programs and directions for future research.

The Personal Sphere Model: Psychometric Properties and Concurrent Validity in a College Population

The Personal Sphere Model, a projective instrument developed to elicit a representation of the object-relation world of an individual and previously used with clinical populations, was administered to 310 college students. Norms were developed and component factors extracted. Seven major factors—productivity, number of family, number of ideas, number of things, number of interruptions in relationships, size of objects, and number of bonds—accounted for 86% of the variance. Criterion validity was established as the representation of interruptions was significantly correlated with scores on the Beck Depression Scale and the Rotter Internal-External Locus of Control Scale.

Attribution of control and the fear of death among first-year medical students.

Explored the relationship between attribution of control and the fear of death in a medical student population. Ss were 50 first-year students at the LSU School of Medicine at New Orleans, with a mean age of 24.7 years. Instruments included the Rotter Internal-External Locus of Control Scale and the Templer Death Anxiety Scale. Ss were divided into two groups (internal or external) based upon scores on the Locus of Control Scale, and a one-way analysis of variance was computed between the groups. The dependent variable was level of death anxiety. The results revealed that the internally oriented group obtained a significantly lower mean score on the Death Anxiety Scale when compared to the externally oriented group (F = 2.28, p less than .02). Two additional ANOVAs that used sex and age as the independent variables revealed no significant differences on the death anxiety measure, thus strengthening the apparent relationship between locus of control and fear of death.

Locus of Control and Career Decidedness: Some Methodological Notes

The present investigation supports the idea that for 113 men and 177 women locus of control as measured by Rotter's Internal-External Locus of Control Scale is significantly related to career decidedness as measured by the Career Decision Scale of Osipow, Carney, Winer, Yanico, and Koschir. This relationship exists whether Rotter's normative data or new normative data are used.

Locus of control, repression-sensitization, and psychological disorder in chronic pain patients.

Examined the relationship between locus of control and psychological disorder in chronic pain patients controlling for the effects of response sets. Fifty-nine patients with chronic low back pain were given Rotter's Internal-External Locus of Control (I-E) scale and the MMPI. Multiple regression analysis showed that the MMPI K, F, and Pt scales produced the most efficient prediction of I-E scores. Response set tendencies to dramatize problems and traits that involve excessive rumination and self-doubt were related to external locus of control.

Intercorrelations of Some Measures of Self-Concept

Fifty undergraduate psychology students (11 males, 39 females) comprised the sample used in the present study. The scores derived from the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory (SEI), Tennessee Self-Concept Scale (TSCS), Slosson Intelligence Test (SIT), and Rotter's Internal-External Locus of Control (LOC) Scale were analyzed by using the Pearson product-moment correlation technique. Significant correlations were obtained between scores on the following instruments: SIT and LOC, LOC and TSCS, LOC and SEI, and SEI and TSCS. Additionally, both race (white or black) and SIT scores and age and LOC scores were significantly correlated.

Australian norms and factorial confirmation of reid and ware's multidimensional internal-external scale

Australian norms are presented for a Canadian multidimensional version of Rotter's (1966) internal-external locus of control scale. Responses of 534 students from Tasmania and Queensland were factor analysed to reveal the same three dimensions as found in North-American samples. The results explained a greater percentage of variance than Australian studies which used the original instrument. It was suggested that the Canadian measure is superior to Rotter's scale and that its utilization in the Australian context is justified. Comparisons between Australian and Canadian findings revealed several features of interest as did within sample comparisons. However, speculations concerning cross-cultural and intrasocietal differences were considered premature in the absence of experimental confirmation and replication with contemporaneous North American norms.

Cognitive Complexity-Simplicity as a Determinant of Internal-External Control

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship for 208 junior high school students between the Adapted Modified Role Repertory Test, a measure of cognitive complexity, and Rotter's Internal-External Locus of Control Scale which measures locus-of-control. No significant correlation appeared.

Personality variables in coping with the stress of a spouse's chronic illness.

Identified systematically those spouses of male VA hemodialysis patients who are at risk for experiencing difficulties in adapting to their husband's chronic kidney failure and hemodialysis treatment. To this end, an exploration was made of personality variables that might enhance a spouse's ability to cope with the unique stress of living with chronic illness. Fifty-six wives of VA dialysis patients were administered the Rotter Internal-External Locus of Control Scale (I-E), the Multidimensional Locus of Control Scale (MLC), the Multidimensional Health Locus of Control Scale (MHLC), the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). Significant relationships were found between I-E scores and all measures of emotional adjustment (state anxiety, trait anxiety, and depression) for the entire sample of spouses in general, and also for a subgroup of home dialysis spouses who were analyzed separately. Results were discussed in terms of the role that locus of control orientation plays in mediating the stress of living with chronic illness, as well as the failure to find relationships between adjustment and the MLC or the area-specific MHLC.

Impact of divorce on locus of control orientation in adult women: a longitudinal study.

Using longitudinal data for adult women from the National Longitudinal Surveys of Labor Market Experience, this study examined the relation between getting divorced and changes in the individual's locus of control orientation. The sample contained 1,814 white women ages 32-46 years who were in their first marriage in 1969. Marital status and locus of control (an 11-item abbreviated version of Rotter's Internal-External Locus of Control Scale) were measured in 1969, 1972, and 1977. Based on previous literature on locus of control and life events and on divorce, stress, and mental health, the author hypothesized that divorced people, in comparison with those who remained married, would show a short-term increase in externality from 1969-1972, followed by a return over the next 5 years to levels of locus of control comparable to that of the group who remained married. It was also hypothesized that locus of control scores would not predict the likelihood of becoming divorced over the 8-year period. All three hypotheses were confirmed. The findings were discussed in the context of two larger theoretical issues: the influence of important life events on locus of control and the causal direction in the well-documented association between divorce and mental health.

Prognostic utility of locus of control in treatment of agoraphobia

The purpose of the present study was to examine the prognostic utility of the Rotter Internal-External Locus of Control Scale with agoraphobics undergoing behavioral and pharmacological treatments. Fifty subjects meeting DSM-III criteria for agoraphobia, completed the instrument at pre- and post-assessments. Despite marked pre-post improvements, the scale was found to be lacking in discriminative power and clinical sensitivity to detect these changes. However, the scale was found to have utility as a prognostic index of post-treatment levels of improvement, with ‘externality’ being strongly associated with improvement. These findings and related issues are discussed.

The Prediction of the Achievement of Deaf Adolescents from Self-Concept and Locus of Control Measures

The relationship of self-concept and locus of control with the achievement of deaf adolescents was examined. The Rotter Internal-External Locus of Control Scale and the Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale, along with modifications of each to compensate for problematic syntax and vocabulary, were administered to 90 deaf adolescents from four residential schools. The achievement data came from standardized test scores in the students' records. Generally, parent hearing status and self-concept were the most important predictors of achievement. An increase in the prediction of achievement for six of nine subtests resulted when the modified forms of the scales were used in place of the original forms. This increase was due particularly to the locus of control variable.

Effects of alcohol, expectancies, sex and social letting on locus of control.

SvssAaY. Compared with subjects who received no alcohol, subjects who received alcohol were more internally oriented regarding the belief in a predictable world and more exter- nally oriented regarding the belief in a controllable world, two of four factors identified in a measure of locus of control. Recently, the effects of alcohol on a wide variety of behaviors have been investigated, and the findings demonstrate the importance of the expectancy regarding the beverage's content (2). This expectancy has been shown (3-5) to mediate diverse behaviors, and the social setting in which the beverage is consumed has also been shown (6) to have a mediating influence. One variable of some interest regarding alcohol consumption is locus of control--the extent to which individuals perceive themselves as control- ling their own life events and reinforcements. Although Lang et al. (5) found no effects of alcohol or expectancies on locus of control, their use of a global index--Rotter's Internal-External Locus of Control Scale is questionable. Multidimensional beliefs concerning locus of control may be more specific predictors of behavior. Moreover, results are typically based on correlational, post-hoc data and are confounded by the effects of the treatment program in which subjects participated when tested (7). Another problem in assessing the effects of alcohol and expectancies on locus of control has been the failure to investigate the responses of men and women separately. Not only are men typically more internally oriented (8), they may also be influenced differently by alcohol and the belief regarding the beverage's content (4). The present study assesses the effects of alcohol, expectancies, sex and social setting on multidimensional beliefs concerning locus of control. METHOD