A new dimensional childrens locus of control scale

RICHAUD DE MINZI, M. C.

JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLOGY

Taylor & Francis

Año: 1991 vol. 125 p. 109 - 118

0022-3980

The purpose of the present study was to create a scale of locus of control beliefs for schoolchildren in Argentina between 6 and 12 years of age that distinguished between the instrumental and affective modalities of the internal dimension and the powerful-others and fatalism modalities of the external dimension in personal and general ideology situations. Two versions of the scale were con- structed: one for 6-year-olds and another for 9- to 12-year-old children. A 16-item version was administered to 97 first graders (age 6) of both sexes (50 boys and 47 girls) from the public schools in Buenos Aires. A 32-item version was administered to 698 children aged 9 (208 boys and 202 girls) and 12 years (157 boys and 131 girls) from the fourth and seventh grades. Results of analyses generally supported the hypotheses regarding the factor structure of the scale. The scale showed adequate internal consistency and significant test-retest correlation in the long run.