Intermediate-grade gifted students (n=139) who participated in the Future Problem Solving Program were compared to other gifted or average ability students. Participants were found to be interested in more global issues than nonparticipants and were more positive about their control over the future. (Author/JDD)

Examines a study of the effects of sociocultural change on an individual's beliefs concerning control over personal and political events. Explains that Polish students' political control beliefs significantly shifted from external sources (the government) to internal sources (the individual) after democratization of their country. Reports that…

Agrees with Callister and Dunne's observations concerning computers and teacher disempowerment. However, computers can become electronic doorways allowing people easy access to whatever they want to do. Rather than criticize teachers' attempts to use technology, we must help teachers learn by providing them with computers and training. Only then…

Discussion of virtual reality (VR) focuses on research and development being carried out at NYNEX to solve business problems. Component technologies are described; design decisions are considered, including interactivity, connectivity, and locus of control; potential perils of VR are discussed, including user dissociation; and areas of promise are…

Cross-sectional investigation compared worry and its correlates in 89 older adults and 74 college students. Older adults expressed significantly fewer worries than did students about finances and social events. Both groups were equally worried about health issues. For both groups, external locus of control was associated with higher worry scores.…

Assessed differences among self-esteem, locus of control, and career aspirations of 30 college-age siblings of individuals with disabilities (sibling-Ds) and 30 classmates with nondisabled siblings (sibling-Ns). Although sibling-Ds and sibling-Ns reported similar levels of self-esteem, sibling-Ds demonstrated significantly higher levels of…

Responds to case of Sondra presented in Career Development Quarterly (September 1990). Presents evidence for Sondra's persistent anxiety, shifting sense of self, and external locus of control and suggests her career indecision is a chronic problem. Recommends career-focused psychotherapy for Sondra. (PVV)

Assessed third and fifth graders' feelings of loneliness, social anxiety, and social avoidance and their attributions for social outcomes. Compared with peers, rejected children reported more loneliness and were more likely to attribute relationship failures to external causes. Among socially distressed children, attribution patterns varied with…

Many young adolescent students are frustrated, reluctant learners that seem resigned to helplessness and other self-defeating behaviors. Telling students to try harder is not particularly effective. This article offers a goal-setting strategy to help youngsters become failure-avoiding, instead of failure-accepting, students. Teachers help students…

Data from 6 samples of 822 parents tested the validity of Parent Health Locus of Control scales, which measure parental beliefs in child, divine, fate, media, parental, and professional influences on child health. Results generally agreed with predicted differences, supporting validity of the scales. (SK)

The relationship of internality-externality and dominance-submissiveness to student preference for course structure and course difficulty was examined for 86 college students. Preference measures were used, which focused on specific dimensions of instruction--structure and difficulty. In contrast to some other research results, internal and…

Investigated the effects of demographic variables and locus of control on college choice. Additional factors were examined using the College Choice Influence Scale (CCIS). Locus of control, socioeconomic status, and declared major were shown to influence college choice. Implications are discussed for directing recruitment activity. (LLL)

Using National Longitudinal Survey of Youth's 1986 Mother-Child Supplement data, focused on 795 employed mothers with 3- to 6-year-old child. Results showed that occupational complexity of mother's work positively affected home environments; larger family size produced less optimal child environments; and mothers' self-esteem, locus of control,…

Explored the interactive effects of three major variables affecting message acceptance: (1) source credibility; (2) degree of recipient involvement; and (3) locus of control. Canadian students (381) evaluated a political party's views and credibility. Found credibility had an impact on message acceptance and externally controlled recipients were…

A study of 513 farm women found that self-esteem, locus of control (LOC), and age predicted role involvement; LOC, age, and role involvement predicted discrepancy in the work-leisure balance. Life satisfaction was predicted by the interaction of self-esteem, LOC, role involvement, and discrepancy. (SK)