Locus of Control

1
Locus of Control Childrens Performance in
Schools

• Jennifer Elias, Don Ghrist, Negar Zivari
• California State University, Northridge

2
Previous Research

• Adalbjarnardottir (1995) states older children
  exhibit more internal locus of control than
  younger children.
• Anderson, et al. (1976) state that intrinsic
  motivation will decrease with the addition of
  external awards which alone are supposed to be
  reason enough for a childs performance.

3
Previous Research

• Grolnick (1987) Looked at the impact of
  environmental conditions and childrens
  motivational orientations on learning outcomes.
• Day (1999) examined the predictive ability of
  locus of control and academic success among
  college students.

4
Purpose

• To further investigate changes in locus of
  control in elementary school children.
• Study looked at locus of control and Stanford-9
  scores, grades, and grade level.

5
Method

• 36 students ranging in grades from 3 to 6 from a
  suburban elementary school in Ventura County, CA.
• Male to female ratio was approximately equal.
• Grades tested separately.
• Majority Caucasian of primarily low-middle to
  upper-middle class.

6
Measures

• Norwicki and Strickland Locus of Control Scale
  for Children.
• Paper pencil test of nineteen questions with a
  yes/no response mode.
• Reviewed student Cum files for most current
  Language Arts, Mathematics, and Social Science
  grades.
• Reviewed student Stanford-9 Total Reading, Total
  Math, and Total Language scores.

7
Results

• Wilkes Lambda multi-linear regression model.
• Overall p.047 that internally motivated students
  score higher across the board.
• Mathematics grades p.004.
• Language Arts grades p.008.
• Social Studies was not significant p.217.

8
Stanford-9 scores

• Stanford-9 Total Reading was not significant
  p.113
• Approached Stanford-9 Total Language p.052
• Stanford-9 Total Mathematics p.005

9
Correlation Matrix

• Relationship between dependent variables (Grades
  and Stanford-9 scores)
• Positive for all factors at 0.01 level (2-tailed)
  except Social Studies grades which did not
  correlate with Stanford-9 Total Math or Total
  Reading.

10
Discussion

• Schools do not change locus of control as
  children progress through elementary grades.
• Internal locus of control played a major factor
  in regards to achievement in Math and Language
  Arts grades.
• Internal locus of control played a major factor
  in regards to Stanford-9 Total Math and
  approached Total Language.

11
Suggestions for Future Research

• Investigate childrens perceived social status in
  regards to locus of control.
• Teachers gender in relation to the gender of the
  child, and the childs performance in the
  classroom and on standardized tests.
• Looking at children of different ethnicities, and
  recent immigrants.