The "Contemporary Health Series" covers critical health and family life topics in a sequence of modules with two curricular divisions: "Into Adolescence" for middle school teachers and "Entering Adulthood" for high school teachers. This module uses eight activity-based lessons to help 9th through 12th graders make better life choices through…

This monograph purports that American society limits the behavior of older individuals based on the arbitrary criterion of chronological age and proposes the concept of empowerment--gaining a sense of personal power or control over over's life--as the antidote for older persons who face devalued status as they age and the for the accompanying drop…

Several investigators have proposed that locus of control has a significant effect on several aspects of classroom behavior. Horak (1979) found that children with a high self-concept tended to be internally controlled, whereas children with a low self-concept tended to be externally controlled. The present investigation sought to further examine…

In an attempt to replicate an earlier study of attribution of responsibility (Experiment 2 of Samuel et. al, 1981), this research utilized a case study describing an 18-year-old named Johnny who tripped and fell while shoplifting a rifle from a sporting goods store; the gun fired, inflicting either minor or critical injuries on a nearby customer.…

Previous research suggests that belief in the uncontrollability of a situation results in maladaptive attempts to control outcomes; perceptions of cancer's uncontrollability may result in negative attitudes toward the disease and toward patients. To test this theory 160 college students read and responded to a paragraph describing a disease…

Bulman and Wortman's (1977) study of severe accident victims showed that victims who blamed themselves as the cause of the accident were more likely to receive higher coping ratings from a nurse or social worker, while victims who blamed others for the accident or who saw the accident as avoidable were more likely to be rated as having coped…

A previous study examined determinants of attributions for success or failure in stopping smoking in a self-help treatment program with and without a drug component. This follow-up study examined the attributions that successful quitters made after remaining abstinent through 12 months, or after they relapsed. Subjects (N=137) had been assigned to…

This study depicts the divorce process over three time periods: predivorce decision phase, divorce proper, and postdivorce. Research has suggested that persons with a more internal locus of control experience less intense and shorter intervals of stress during the divorce proper and better postdivorce adjustment than do persons with a more…

Locus of control is a personality trait that influences human behavior in many situations. Internal-external control reactions to a persuasive message and the recall of the message were examined in two studies. In the first study, 35 undergraduate students' locus of control was measured using Duttweiler's Internal Control Measure. On the basis of…

Basic Training (BT) is designed to prepare recruits for their new role as members of the military. The psychological effects of this experience can have important implications for recruits' later effectiveness in the military. Locus of control is one psychological construct which can be important for overall psychological and behavioral adaptation…

This study tested the hypothesis that the developmental change in the effectiveness of social reinforcement was related to changes in locus of control. A total of 145 subjects in grades 3, 4, 6, and 7 responded to the Children's Locus of Control Scale and to a simple game of measuring the effectiveness of either praise connoting or information…

The purpose of the present study was to determine whether the reported relationship between IE scores and self-reported anxiety would be found when a nonobtrusive measure of aniety was employed. (Author)

Two instruments concerned with the locus of control variable, Rotter's Internal-External Locus of Control scale and Coan's Personal Opinion Survey are compared to see how each could predict political participation of a newly enfranchised college population in a presidential election year. Different theoretical approaches of the scales are…

Rotters' internal external scale failed to demonstrate adequate degrees of interval consistency for Blacks. The unreliability of the dimension among Blacks was pervasive. Such unrealiability was specific to Blacks: there was satisfactory internal consistency for Anglos and Chicanos. The theoretical and methodological implications of these findings…

Lefcourt and Telegdi's concepts of congruence and incongruence between perceptual skills and expectancies were studied. (Author)