Self-Concept and Locus of Control: Are they Causally Related in Secondary Students?

Abstract

Previous studies have found a positive correlation between self-concept and locus of control, two variables that frequently are studied and assessed by school psychologists and other educators. The purpose of this study was to examine the causal relation of the correlation between these two variables. Subjects (more than 28,000 high school sophomores and 11,000 seniors) were drawn from the 1980 and 1982 waves of the National Center for Education Statistics' High School and Beyond longitudinal study. A causal modeling approach was used to examine the relation between self-concept and locus of control. Six different causal models were analyzed using LISREL, a computer program for estimating the unknown coefficients in a set of linear structural equations. The results suggest a difference in the nature of the relation for sophomores and seniors. For sophomores, it appears that the causal relation between self-concept and locus of control is reciprocal in nature. For seniors, the primary direction of causation is from self-concept to locus of control.