Bulletin of Educational Psychology
,
1977,
10,
107-122,
Taiwan Normal University Taipei,
Taiwan,
China,
• 107 •
INTERN
AL-
EXTERNAL LOOUS OF OONTROL AND ADJUSTMENT
PROBLEMS AMONG JUNIOR HIGH
SαIOOLSTUDENTS
YU-YIH HUNG
To investigate the relationship between locus of control and adjustment problems,
180 junior high sch∞1 students were given both the Nowicki-Strickland's 1ρcus of Con-trol Scale and M，∞ney Problem Check List (Junior High Sch∞1 Form). In addition
,
the subjects scoring higher than one standard deviation above the mean were considered as the external control group (EOO) and those scoring lower than lSD below the mean were the internal control group (100). The students whose scores were between 士 .5SD. from the mean were assigned to the moderate control group (M'ω). The subjects were classified into three groups as mentioned above,
each consisting of 60 students (30 boys and 30 girls). The results indicated (1) Eωreported more total problems of concern than 1ωand Mω， but no significant sex differences, were found,
(2) the finding ofthis study
,
which indicated that the higher the scores of externa1ity are,
the more the problems are among all subjects,
is suggestive of a 1inear rather than U-shaped curvil-inear relationship between locus of control and adjustment,
(3) there is significant agr'臼ment among the ranking of problem areas by three group students
,
and (4) the major problem areas of concern for junior high school students were“
Self-Centered Concerns,"
“
School," and“
Money-Work-the Future."到TRODUCTION
Internal-external control of reinforcement is a concept that has developed from Rot-ter's social learning theory. It is a generalized expectancy which is viewed 甜 acontinuum of individual differences that cuts across need areas. The internally oriented individual believes that events or reinforcements are contingent upon his own behavior or his own relatively permanent characteristics
,
while the externally oriented person views reinforce-ment as being due to such factors as luck,
fate,
chance,
powerful others,
and the com-plexity of the wor1d. Locus of control is a personality variable. It has been proved useful in a variety of predictive areas,
including attempts at control1ing the environment,
social influence,
risk-taking,
and sociocultural phenomena.There have been many studies about the relationship between locus of control and various behaviors or other variables. Recent attention has also been devoted to the per-sonal adjustment correlates of internal-external (I-E). Most results of studies have found that the internally oriented individual has better adjustment to his life than the externally oriented individual.
StateDlent 01 the ProbleDl
self-reported adjustment problems of internal
,
external and moderate control students in junior high school. Specifìcally the study was:1. identify the distinctive personal problems of the three group of students;
2. determine the relationship between the problems expressed and the variable of sex
,
and3. analyze the patterns of problems of the three groups students. Hypotheses
The hypotheses tested in this study
,
stated in the null-...form,
were as follows:1. There is no signifìcant difference in adjustment problems among internal
,
external,
and moderate locus of control groups.2. There is no signifìcant difference of adjustment problems among internal
,
external,
and moderate locus of control groups relative to sex.3. There is no signifìcrnt difference concerning the rank order of problem areas among internal
,
external,
and moderate locus of control groups.Delim.itation and Lim.itation of the Study
1. This study was limited to grade 7
,
8,
and 9 students in Yung-hoJ
unior High School,
,Taiwan,
Republic of China. 180 students will be selected as the sample.2. This study was primarily to analyze the nature and frequency of the personal problems which junior high school students were aware of and willing to express on the Mooney Problem Checklist (MPCL). No attempt was made to determine the traits or the degree of adjustment
,
nor was any attempt be made to explain underlying sources of conflict in adjustment.3. Because grade 7, 8, and 9 subjects were used in the 恥旬， there was a nece蜘ry
limitation on the generalization of the results to other age groups and other groups of different cultural background.
Defini
“
on of Term.s1. Internal l卸的 01control: This occurs when an individual perceives reward to be
contingent upon his own behavior.
2. External locus 01 control: This occurs when an individual perceives reward as
being contingent upon the actions of others or due to other
“
forces" such as fate,
luck,
or chance.3. Adjustment problems: Personal problems confronting students in their a4justment
to life
,
as operationally determined by MPCL.Pattern of Problems: The relative rank order of the seven problem areas on the MPCL for various groups of participating students.
Im.portance of the Study
Although most result of studies have found that internally oriented persons have better adjustment to life than externally persons
,
it is di組cult tò determine whether theI-E locus of control and adjustment problems among junior high school students
.
109 •relationship between locus of control and personal adjustment is linear or U-shaped curvilinear. (i.e. is the degree of externality directly associated with more problems in adjustment and the degree of internality directly associated with less adjustment problems
,
or are individuals at the extreme ends of the internal-external dimension more maladjusted the individuals in the middle range.)Much of the research in this area has been conducted in the United States of America and is available in the western world. However
,
the study of the relationship between locus of control and adjustment among the secondary school students in Taiwan is still neglected. In order to provide some data in this respect,
the present investigation was undertaken. The information obtained from the results of this study can be compared to the results of previous studies thereby facilitation understanding of the relationship be-tween locus of control and adjustment among the junior high school students in Taiwan.
REvmw OF RELATED LITERATURE
This review is divided into five parts. The first four parts describe some findings of research about locus of control and the variables related to adjustment. The fifth part is a summary of the literature.
Locuø of Control and Perøonality Traitø
Locus of control is a personality variable (Rotter
,
1966; Joe,
1971). Several psycholo-gists have been concerned with the relation of internal-external scores to personality characteristics. Hersch and Scheibe (1967) correlated Rotter's I-E Scale with the CPI California Psychological Inventory) and the ACL (Adjective Check Lìst) and found that internally oriented individuals were higher than externally oriented individuals on the Dominance,
Tolerance,
Good Impression,.
Sociability,
Intellectual Efficiency,
Achievement via Conformance,
and Well-being scales of the CPI. Internally oriented individuals were more likely to describe themselves、 as assertive,
achieving,
powerful,
independent,
effective,
and industrious on the ACL.Some investigatiors (e.g. Tolor and Rezniko宜; 1967
,
Altroel祉， et.al.,
1968) reported that external scores were significantly related to reprssion. Tolor rnd Reznikoff noticed that interenal scores were significanlty correlated with scores on a scale measuring insight and that external scores were related to overt death anxiety.After finding a positive correlation between the I-E scale and Buss-Durkee Hostility Inventory
,
Williams and Vantres (1969) suggest that externals,
having experienced more feelings of powerlessness and more frustration via external forces,
are more to prone to manifest aggression and hostility on the paper-and-pencil measure. Baron (1968) recorded a nonsignificant relationship between locus of control and authoritarianism.ln other studies
,
externals were found to be less trustful and more suspicious of other people and more dogmatic than internals (Hamsher,
Geller,
and Rotter,
1968; Miller and Minton,
1969; Clouser and Hjel1e,
1970).Joe (1971) in a review of research relative to Internal-External Control found that
“
externals,
in contrast to internals,
were relatively anxious,
aggressive,
dogmatic,
and less trustful and more suspicious of others,
lacking in self-confidence and insight,
having low needs for social approval,
and having a greater tendency to use sensitizing mode of de-fenses." (p. 623) Simi1arly,
Ryckman and Sherman (1973),
synthesizing earlier investiga-tions,
indicated that internals describe themselves as being self-confident,
assertive,
inde-pendent,
perserving and insightful,
while externals tend to describe themselves unfavorably,
as being self-pitying,
anxious and inadequate.Locus of Control Anxiety
The relationship between anxiety and I-E control has generally been low although signficant in a number of instances (Potter
,
1966). Butlerfield (1964) reported a positive relationship between external control and debilitating anxiety and a negative relation-ship with faci1itating anxiety. Similar or congruent results have been reported by Watson (1967). Watson (1967),
for 648 college students,
found the correlations of .36 (p<.Ol) between the I-E scale and Manifest Anxiety Scale,
.25 (p<.Ol) between exter-nal control and debilitating anxiety,
and 一 .08 (p<.05) between external control and facilitating anxiety of the Alpert-Haber scale. Also consistent with above findings are two studies (Hountras and Scharf,
1970; Olatt and Eisenman,
1968) showing that extern-als scored higher on anxiety measure than did internextern-als.Tolor a Peznikoff (1967) reported that subjects with external expectancies have sighificantly greater overt death anxiety than subjects with internal expectancies. Accord-ing to study results
,
Ray and Katahn (1968) concluded that a feeling of lack of control over the environment and outcome of one's actions is associated with anxiety.On the other hand
,
Nelson & Phares (1971) found external control is associated both with greater anxiety and with' the discrepancy between need value and expectancy in academic area. Strassberg's study results indicated than a lower expectation of achieve-ment of valued goals is associated with both higher levels of anxiety and greater externality.Most research supports the conclusion that there is a strong relationship between ex-ternality and a variety of measures of anxiety
,
although a few investigators have failed to verity this conclusion (e.g.,
Gold,
1968; Berman and Hays,
1973).Locus of Control and Behavior Pathologies
Cromwell
,
Rosenthal,
Shakow,
and Zahn (1961) found that schizophrenics were more external than the normal controls. Similar results were reported by Harrow and Ferrante (1969).
Shybut (1968) noted that long-term,
severely disturbed patients were significently more external than short-term,
moderately disturbed individuals.Fontana
,
Klein,
Lewis,
and Levine (1968) found that schizophrenic patients who wished to impress others that they were“
healthy" were more internal than those who wanted to convince others that they were“
sick".
I.E locus of control and adjustment problems among junior high school students
.
111 •Process schizophrenia
,
with their poorer premorbid adjustment patterns and lower history of social inadequacy and failure,
are more external than the reactive schizo-phrenics,
whose maladaptive responses had developed more recently (Lottman and DeWolfe,
1972).Duke and Mul1ens (1973) found that chronic schizophrenics prefer greater interper-sonal distances than normals and that the degree of their withdrawal behavior from other human being is not completely due to their hospitalization.
Abramowitz (1969) found that externals report more feelings of anger and depression. Prociuk
,
Breen,
and Lussier (1976) suggested that hopelessness would be positively related to external laws of co'ntrol and to depression. Phares (1976) noted that“
there ought to be a relationship between externality and depression.... Externals surely should be more susceptible to learned helplessness than internals" (p. 126).Williams and Nickels (1969) reported that externality is related to suicide-proneness. After investigating the relationship of internal-external control and the United States suicide rates
,
1966-1973,
Boor (1976) conc1uded:The I-E scores increased substantial1y during this time period and were correlated positively with the concomitant1y increasing suicide rates among relative1y young persons (in and be10w the 35-44 year age group)
.
However,
the suicide rates among older persons general1y decreased during this time period and thus were correlated negatively with I-E scores. Thes~ results suggest that perceptions of internal-external control did not change among older persons as they did among younger persons,
perhaps because older persons might be loss susceptible to the cultural influences that affect the perceived control of younger persons.1 (p. 795)Locuø of Control and Other Variableø Related to AdjuøtJnent
In a story completion task
,
internal1y oriented persons demonstrated a tendency to perceive moral sanctions as direct1y contingent upon the immoral actions of the central character (Johnson, et. al., 1968). This result suggested that the locus of control variable may directly influence moral judgement and mental health.Fitch (1970) has reported a low but significant positive rank-order correlation between locus of control and self-esteem. Low self-esteem subjects tended to score as externals. Warehime and Foulds (1971) found a significant re1ationship b
relationship. However
,
Joe (1971) and Phares (1976),
synthesizing many study results,
argued that most of the research in this area suggest a linear relationship,
i.e. more externality is associated with more problems in adjustment.Surnrnary
From a review of related literature
,
it is evident that many investigators have found some differences of personality traits between internals and externals. Generally speaking,
externally oriented persons,
in contrast to internally oriented persons,
are relatively repressive,
aggressive,
dogmatic,
hostile,
less trustful and more suspicious of others,
lacking in self-confidence and insight,
having low needs for social approval,
and having a greater tendency to use sensitìzing modes of defenses.Most of the research suggests a sìgnìficant relatìonshìp between locus of control and anxìety. Externals are more anxious than ìnternals.
80 far
,
research has indicated that more extreme pathology is related to greater externality. Ex剖te釘rτ'naternali缸ty i包s also related to su且icide-pronenes鎔s.
There is significant relationship between locus of control and other variables related to, adjustment. Low咽lf-esteem and low咽lf-actualization subjects tended to score as
externally.
In short
,
most results of studies have found that the internals have better adjustment to their life than the externals. But the point at issue ìs whether the relationship between locus of control and personal adjustment is linear or U-shaped curvilinear.METHOD
This chapter contains the following informatìon pertìnent to the study: (a) ,subjects
se1ected; (b) instruments used; (c) procedures for col1ecting data; and (d) method of data analysis.
Subjects
The sample for thìs study consisted of 180 Junior high school students drawn by stratìfied samplìng on the basis of sex and scores on the I-E scale
,
form Yung-ho Junior High 8chool,
Taiwan,
Republic of China. The subjects scoring higher than 1 SD above the mean were considered as the External group and those scoring lower than 1 8D be-low the mean were the Internal group. The students whose scores were between 士 .5SDs from the mean were assigned to the moderate group. The distributions of these subjects as to the above variables are shown in the Table 1.
TABLE 1 、 DISTRIBUTION OF SUBJECTS BY SEX AND LOCUS OF CONTROL
Internal h在oderate External Total
EKJ
訕
。
-U
叫
BGT 司3zdro nunυnυ 弓 AUAUAυ
3 司 Jro AUAUAU 句 3 句 3 正 U AUnυAU nynyno 4EA
I-E locus of control and adjustment problems among junior high school students
.
113 • InøtruD1entation1. The Nowicki品rickland's Locus
0/
Control ScaleThe Nowic>ti-Strickland's Locus of Control Scale (I-E Scale
,
Chinese Revision) is a paper-and-pencil measure consisting of 40 questions that are answered either yes or no by placing a mark next to the question. The Ìtems describe reinforcement situations across interpersonal and motivational areas such as affiliation,
achievement,
and dependency.The scale is scored by externality
,
from 0 to 40. The higher the scores,
the more ex-ternal the locus of control is. Controlling for IQ inex-ternals performed significant1y better than externals on achievement test scores (t=3.78,
df-48). Test-retest reliabilities for a6-week period are .67 for the 8-11-year-old group (N=98) and .75 for those in the 12-15-year-old group (N=54). For Chinese Revision
,
test-retest reliabilities for 3-week period are .72 (böys,
N=10旬， .72 (girls,
N口 100品 .70 (boys and girls) for the junior high school students group (N=200).2. The Mooney Problem Check Ltst
The Mooney Problem Check List (MPCL
,
Junior High School Form,
Chinese Revi-'sion) was used as an instrument to gather data concerning the individual problemsand problem areas of junior high school students.
The MPCL is a self-administered
,
untimed inventory used to help individuals express their personal problems. It includes 210 problems common to students. The items are written in short,
simple,
and descriptive terms but vague enough in sensitive areas to allow the respondent to check the item and feel that he is not revealing too much. They are grouped in seven broad problem areas with thirty items in each area. The seven problem..a
reas of the MPCL are as follows:r
Health and Physical Development (HPD) II. School (S)III. Home and Family (HF)
IV. Money-Work-the Future (MWF) V. Boy and Girl Relations (BG) VI. Relatíons to People in General (PG) VII. Self-Centered Concerns 侈的
Test-retest reliabilities for a 71-day period are .97 for the junior high school students group (N=9月.
PTocedureø
The I-E Scale and tbe MPCL were administered on a group basis. No time limit was used. The instructions for taking the tests were given to each group by one examiner. The subjects were encouraged to respond honest1y. The data 'was collected by 1\在iss Jin卡n Ho
,
a counselor in the secondary school,
and then mailed to the writer.Data Analysis
selected and divided into groups
,
based on their scores on the I-E Scale,
according to the sampling plan.Procedures for the analysis of data were as follows:
1. Frequency means and standard deviation of each problem area and of the total on the MPCL for each student group were computed.
2. The statistical procedure used to test hypothesis 1 and 2 was a two-way analysis of variance (2 x 3). The factors învolved were group (3) and sex (2). The groups factor (Hypothesis 1) indicated whether significant differences existed among the groups relative to problems of adjustment. The Tukey test of multiple com-parìsons was planned if a significant F was obtained since the groups factors consisted of three levels. The sex factor (Hypothesis 2) indicated whether signifi-cant differences in adjustment existed among groups based on sex.
3. To test Hypothesis 3
,
the rank order of 7 problem areas for each student group was determined on the basis of frequency means. Spearman's Rank Correlation Coefficients were calculated to determine the degree of agreement between the rankings of problem areas for various groups,
and the t test was used to determine the significance of correlation coefficients obtained.In the analysis of the data in this study the .05 level of significance was adhered to for all tests made.
RESULTS
The AnaIysis of Variance of Problems
Table 2 presents the frequency means and standard deviations of each problem area and of the total on MPCL for each student group.
Table 3 shows the analysis of variance of total problems which were of concern to the subjects. The F-value for groups was the only one si伊ificant at the .001 level
,
indicating that the difference among the frequency means of total problems report on the
h在PCL for three group students was statistically significant. The results of the Tukey test finds that there are significant differences between the means of Ìnternal group and moderate group
,
moderate group and external group,
and internal group and external group. These findings indicate that moderate control students have more adjustment problems than internal éontrol students,
external control students have more adjustment problems than internal control students,
external control students have more adjustment problems than moderate control students and external control students. 前lere is no significant differences in sexes and interaction between groups and sexes. Therefore,
Hypothesis 1 was rejected and Hypðthesis 2 was accepted.Futhermore
,
the results of two-way ANOV A relative to seven problem areas are reported in Table 4. They are analyzed as follows:HPD S HF MWF GGC BPS Total
I-E locus of control and adjustment problems am。可 junior high school students
.
115. TABLE 2 FREQUENCY MEANS AND STANDARD DEVIATIONSON MPCL FOR THE SUBJECTS
Internal Moderate External
1)竺」 ?!J二FLJ÷ …~]-
Boys…
I
M SDI
M SDI
M 8D M SDI
M SDI
M SDl377246l3332 叮 3 封 14673717073 呵 !613 了
5.80 3.47I
5.00 2.42 1 8.03 3.53I
6.67 3.56I
8.63 4.68 110.30 5.04f73:801oo 叮叮oU3 出 8.23
4.70 2.73 2.50 1 1.67 1.11 1 3.97 2.56 1 3.93 2.95 i 6.60 3.03 1 5.00 3.63 3.57 2.06 1 2.63 2.18 i 5.37 3.33I
4.50 4.15I
7.57 4.46I
8.13 5.50J立 ι::1::1:::ι;::;叫:2:::1;;;:2;;:
TABLE 3 ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE OF THE TOTAL PROBLEMS OFCONCERN ON THE MPCL FOR THE SUBJECTS
Groups (G) 8exes (S) GxS Error Total Source 88 DF MS F 2 13
,
123.10 28.53*** 576.00 1.25 2 342.20 .74 174 460.00 179 26,
246.20 576.00 684.40 80,
040.60 *** P<.001 107,
547.20 SourceTABLE 4 TWO-WAY ANOVA FOR SEVEN PROBLEMS F Value F了一-omhi--一一---gex--一→一一-b瓦一
一一一一一一一一一一一一一
(G)一一一一一←一一(的
干
DF 1. HPD 2. 8 3. HF 4. MWF5.
BG 6. PG7.
SC Z 1 174 11.37** 1.17 .13 15.94*** .08 2.51 28.12*** .24' 1.18 14.76*** 8.41 ** .13 24.98*** 4.68* 1.22 22.85*** .51.72
20.13*** .73 1.35 * P<.05 ** P< .01 *** P < .0011. Health and Physical D巳velopment (HPD): The F of 11.37 for groups was significant beyond the .001 level. 1t indicates that the signíficant differences existed among three
groups. The results of the Tukey test are graphed below. internal moderate external
For interpretation
,
means are ordered low to high from left to right. Al1 means not underlined by a common line differ significantly from the others. With respect to health and physical development,
external locus of control students have significantly more adjustment problems than internal and moderate locus of control students. There are no significant differences in sexes and in the interaction of group and sex.2. School (s): The F obtained of 15.94 for groups was significant beyond the .001
level. This indicated that significant differences occurred between the groups and the Tukey multiple comparison test could be calculated. Results of the Tukey reveal signifì-cant differences between internal group and moderate group
,
moderate group and external group and internal group and external group existed. That is: relative to school life,
externallocus of control students have more adjustment problems than internal and moderate locus of control students,
moderate locus of control students have more adjustment problems than internal locus of control students.There are no sìgnìficant differences in sexes and in the interaction of group and sex.
3. Home and Family (HF): The F of 28.12 for groups was significant beyond the .001 level. This result indicated that significant differences occurred between groups. Results of Tukey test graphed below indicates which group contributed to those differences.
internal moderate external
Means are ordered low to high from left to right. All means not underscored by a common line differ signifìcantly from the others. With respect to
“
home and family" external locus of control students have more adjustment problems than internal and moderate locus of control students.There are no significant differences between sexes and in the interaction of group and sex.
4. Money- Work-the Fufure (MWF加 The F of 14.76 for groups was significant be-yond the .001 level
,
indicated that significant differences occurred between the groups and the Tukey multiple comparison test could be caléulated. Results of the Tukey reveal significant differences between internal group and moderate group,
moderate group and external group,
and internal group and external group existed. That is: relativet切o “Mo∞ne)
problems t出ha叫n internal and external locus of control students
,
moderate locus of control students have more adjustment problems than internal locus of control students.The F of 14.76 for sexes was significant beyond the .01 level. This result indicated that signi6cant differences occurred between sexes. That is: boy students have more ad-justment problems than girl students with respect to
“
Money-Work-the Future".I-E locus of control and adjustment problems among junior high school students
.
117 • 5. Boy and Girl Relations (鼓']): The F obtained was significant beyond the .001 level,
indicating that significant differences occurred between the groups. Results of the Tukey indicated significant differences between internal group and moderate group,
moderate group and external group,
and internal group and external group existed. That is: with respect to boy and gir1 relations,
external locus of control students have more adjustment problems than internal and moderate locus of control student,
moderate locus of control students have more adjustment problems.The F of 4.68 for sexes was significant beyond the .05 level. This result indicated that significant differences occurred between sexes. 1n other words
,
boy students have more adjustment problems than girl students relative to boy and girl relations.6. Relations to peopl in General (PG): The F of 22.85 for groups was signifìcant
be-yond the .001 level. This indicated that signifìcant differences occurred between the groups and the Tukey multiple co組parison test could be calculated. Results of the Tukey reveal signifìcant differences between internal group and moderate group
,
moderate group and external group,
and internal group and external group existed. That is: with respect to relation to people in general,
external locus of control students have more adjustment problems than internal locus of control students.There are no signifìcant differences between sexes and in the interaction of group and sex.
7. Selfcentered Concerns (SC): The F of 20.13 for groups was significant beyond the .001 leve1. This indicated that signifìcant differences occurred between the groups and the Tukey multiple comparison test could be calculated. Results of the Tukey re-veal significant differences between internal group and moderate group
,
moderate group and external group,
and internal group and external group existed. That is: relative toself-center吋 concerns， external locus of control students have more adjustment problems than internal and moderate locus of control students
,
moderate locus of control students have more adjustment problems than internal locus of control students.No significant differences between sexes and in the interaction of group and sex are found.
Com.parison of Rank Orders of Problem. Areas
Table 5 presents comparisons of rank orders of problem areas among internal group. moderate group
,
and external group. Major problem areas.of concern were S,
MWF,
SC,
and HPD for internal group; SC,
S,
MWF,
and PG for moderate group and extern-al group.The correlations were signifìcant between the rankings of problem areas for internal group and moderate group (r=.86
,
P .0旬， moderate group and external group (r=.97,
P .00吟， and external group and internal group (r=.82
,
P .05). So in general,
there was significant agreement among the rankings of problem areas by internal,
moderate,
and external locus of control students.TABLE 5 CAMPARISON OF RANK ORDERS OF PROBLEM AREAS AMONG INTERNAL
,
MODERATE,
EXTERNAL LOCUS OF CONTROL GROUP STUDENTSInternal Moderate External Area
M SD Rank M SD Rank 此直 SD Rank HPD 3.55 2.67 4 4.83 3.56 S 5.40 3.02 1 7.35 3.61 HF 1.88 2.01 7 2.85 2.42 MWF 4.93 3.44 2 6.80 3.86 BG 2.20 2.01 6 3.95 2.77 PG 3.10 2.17 5 4.93 3.79 SC 4.83 3.30 3 8.00 4.93 Total 1 26.35 14.82
I
I
38.53 i 20.06 * P<.05 Summa:ry Internal--Moderate 只 =.86 t=3.7們 Moderate-External r.=.97 t=8.82*** External-Internal r.=.82 t=3.15* *** P<.OOl DISCUSSION 5 6.60 4.05 5 2 9.47 4.94 2 7 5.87 4.15 6 3 8.88 4.64 3 6 5.80 3.44 7 4 7.85 5.01 4 l 10.78 6.55 1 55.78 27.07This study has been oriented toward an investigation of junior high school stùdents' adjustment problems in the light of different locus of control
,
with sex variable being taken into consideration. The purpose of the study was to compare and to analyze th self-perceived and self-reported adjustment problems of internal,
external and mooerate locus of control students in junior high schoo1.One hundred~eighty junior high school students were the subjects in this study. The Nowicki-Strickland's Locus of Control Scale and The Mooney Problem Check List
(J
unior high School Form) were administered to subject in regular cIass settings.Statistical analysis of the data provided the basis for rejection of the hypothesis com-paring internal
,
moderate,
and externaI locus of control students but acceptance of the hypothesis comparing boy students and gir1 students in total adjustment problems. This is indicative that external locus of control students have more adjustment problems than internal and moderate locus of control students,
but there is no significant differences between boy students and gir1 students.The analysis of seven problem areàs resulted in the rejection of all hypotheses com~
paring three group students in different locus of contro1. The Tukey multiple comparison test indicated a significant and consistant tendency that external locus of control students have more adjustment problems than internal and moderate locus of control students in
I-E locus of control and adjustment problems among junior high school students • 119 •
all problem areas. Moderate locus of control students have more adjustment problems than internal locus of control students in S
,
MWF,
BG,
PG,
and SC. There are no signifi-cant differences between internal and moderate locus of control students in HPD and HF. Boy students have more adjustment problems than girl students in MWF and BG.There was significant agreement among the ranking of problem areas by three group students.
Concluøionø
1. The results of this study indicate that external locus of control students
,
have more adjustment problems than internal and moderate locus of control students,
moderate locus of control students have more adjustment problems than internal locus of control.Therefore
,
it can be tentatively concluded that the relationship between locus of controland personal adjustment is linear. In other words
,
the degree of exterality direct1y as-sociated with more problems in adjustment and the degree of interali句 associated with less adjustment problems.2. In junior high school
,
there is no significant differences between boy students and girl students in adjustment problems.3. The major problem area of concern for junior high school students were “Selι
Centered Concerns"
,“
School",
and“
Money-Work-the Future". RecOlDlDendationø1. It is found that the relationship between locus of control and personal adjustment is linear. Therefore
,
it is recommended that the Nowick-Strickland Locus of Control Scale can be an available diagnostic instrument of adjustment problems used in the counseling services of junior high school.2. It is recommended that similar studies be conducted in other educational levels
,
so as to provide more information on the relationship between locus of control and adjustment.書
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