Cognitive and psychosocial differences between I and E locus of control aged persons

Abstract

An abbreviated version of Rotter's Locus of Control (LOC) Scale was administered to 437 elderly subjects living in a variety of settings in an urban community. The group (n = 199) which scored below the median (internal orientation) was compared with the group (n = 238) which scored at or above the median (external orientation) on an array of 37 cognitive and psychosocial variables. Significant differences, mostly favoring the internal subjects, were found on 13 of the variables, suggesting relatively better self-reported health status, cognitive, and personal-social functioning on their part. These results are in general agreement with most other reports dealing with the relationships between LOC responses of the aged and their psychosocial functioning. Step-wise multiple regression analysis of the intercorrelations among the 37 variables and LOC show only seven are significant and these account for no more than 13 percent of the variance. The overall impression is that LOC has a reliable relationship to limited aspects of cognitive and psychosocial functioning, but that the power of its predictive effectiveness is still quite limited.