How does hardness affect locus of control

The study deliberately had no information on whether the mother had invited her partner to take part except when the completed questionnaire was returned. For this project we have concentrated on the data collected from 9 questionnaires completed before and after the birth of the study child by the mother, and for the partner the questionnaire sent in pregnancy that included the LOC scale.

The post-delivery questionnaires completed by the mother concerned the behavior of the child between 6 and 57 months post-delivery. It has an easier reading level than the Rotter scale, but is significantly correlated with Rotter's test Nowicki, a making it appropriate for testing adults from the general community.

It contained the 12 items from the original 40 item scale which possessed the highest item-total correlations based on the responses of mothers. Factor analysis of responses from 12, women confirmed the single factor structure of the scale. Coefficient alpha was 0. The higher the score the more external the locus of control. For the present study external locus of control was defined as above the median while internal locus of control was defined as scores equal to or lower than the median.

There were six variables that we have used to describe the efficiencies of the parents during pregnancy and subsequently. Each, if carried out, has health benefits for the child. Sleeping behavior of the child was measured using a number of questions repeated in different questionnaires which the mothers completed at their leisure at home. Feeding behaviors were elicited from the mothers with items used in the British birth cohort.

They included the following questions in relation to the past year: i whether the mother found it difficult to establish an eating routine asked at 24, 38, and 54 months , ii whether the child had over-eaten, and iii whether the child was choosy with food 15, 24, 38, and 54 months.

Temper tantrums were a focus of attention in questionnaires at 18, 30, and 42 months. When these occurred mothers were asked how often they reacted in particular ways she ignored the child, tried to cuddle the child, reasoned with the child or tried to distract the child with possible answers often; sometimes; never.

There is a considerable literature describing ways in which the child's adverse behavior is associated with maternal youth, low levels of education as well as exposure to prenatal smoking. These factors may also be a consequence of external LOC orientation—i. Consequently analysis taking these three factors into account is likely to be misleading.

We have therefore presented the data as unadjusted in order to demonstrate a pattern of associations. For each child and parental outcome a comparison was made between maternal external and internal locus of control individuals, as well as between the paternal external and internal individuals. These are all shown in the Supplementary Tables. For analyses assessing the differences within families, the proportion of each outcome is compared within the type of orientation of the mother.

Thus, External mothers were selected and comparisons made between the outcomes according to the orientation of her partner; separately Internal mothers were selected and comparison of outcomes made between those whose partners were external and internal.

For space reasons we did not present the odds ratios and confidence limits in these tables; the data are provided from which the interested reader can calculate these statistics if required.

The analyses were carried out for all children and, although we stratified by sex of the child, the results did not differ and have therefore been omitted from this paper. A comparison of externally and internally oriented mothers shows that those who were externally controlled were less likely to know the date of their LMP, less likely to attend parenting classes, less likely to breast feed and less likely to ensure their child was fully immunized by 6 months of age.

Similar relationships for fathers with an external LOC were found to be associated with paternal failure to accompany the mother to classes or be present at delivery Table S1. If, however the mother was internally oriented, when compared with having an internal partner having an external partner appeared to result in more uncertainty about her LMP, being less likely to attend parenting classes, breast feed or ensure the child was fully immunized.

The attendance of the father at classes, and to a lesser extent at delivery appears to have depended on the orientation of both parents, and was particularly likely if both were internal compared with both external. E, Mother external; M.

I, Mother internal; F. E, Father external; F. I, Father internal; LMP, date of last menstrual period. There are a variety of measures of the child's sleep behavior in the first 5 years of life, and we concentrate on the answers to three different questions answered by the mother at four different time points 18, 30, 42, and 57 months.

The proportion of children without a regular sleeping routine gradually reduced between 18 and 57 months, but was always greater if the mother or the father was externally oriented Table S2. Ext , with mother external, father internal M. Int , and mother internal, father external M. Ext , with both internal M. It can be seen that: i if the mother is external, the proportion of children without a regular sleep pattern reduces if the father is internal; ii conversely if the mother is internal the proportion without a regular sleep pattern is greater if the father is external rather than internal; iii If both parents are external the risk of failure to have a regular sleep pattern is far greater than if both parents are internal—the ratio of the proportion of external to internal pairs is 1.

Percentage of parents who have sleeping problems with their child according to the locus of control orientation of both parents. I, Father internal. As with failure to have a regular sleeping routine, the proportion of children who refused to go to bed was higher if either parent had an external rather than an internal orientation Table S3 ; this was true for both boys and girls. In regard to getting up after a few hours' sleep the pattern is similar in that this is more likely to occur if the parent is external Table S4.

A study of the relationships with the LOC orientation of the two parents also shows a slightly different pattern to that found for the sleeping characteristics shown above. However if the mother is internal there is a more significant difference in this sleep pattern if her partner is external. Again the rate of getting up after only a few hours of sleep is much greater if both parents are external, compared to parents who are both internal, with ratios of 1.

Characteristics of the child's eating behavior were asked of the mother at 15, 24, 38, and 54 months post-delivery. Here we concentrate on three of these—the mothers' failure to establish an eating routine unfortunately not asked at 15 months , the child perceived to have over-eaten and the child being choosy with food.

The latter was chosen as it exhibits a reverse association with parental LOC orientation. Difficulties with establishing a routine were greatest when the child was 38 months old, but at each age the difficulties were slightly greater if the parent was external Table S5.

Percentage of parents who have feeding problems with their child according to the locus of control orientation of both parents. E, Mother External; M. I, Mother Internal; F. E, Father External; F. I, Father Internal. The mother was asked on four occasions whether the child had had episodes of overeating in the past year.

On each occasion the children with an external parent were more likely to be reported as over-eating Table S6. It can be seen that: i if the mother is external, the proportion of children who overeat reduces slightly but not significantly except at 54 months if the father is internal, ii conversely if the mother is internal the proportion of children that overeat is significantly greater if the father is external rather than internal, iii If both parents are external the risk of the child overeating is greater than if both parents are internal—the ratio of the proportion of external to internal pairs is 1.

At all ages the rate of this characteristic is lower if the mother is external although this pattern is much less apparent in relation to the father's orientation Table S7. In an attempt to investigate the reasons for these differences we compare the attitudes of the external and internal mothers and their partners in regard to allowing the child to choose what to eat. This indicates that the external mother is much more likely to allow a wide choice both of main meal and snacks compared to the mother with an internal LOC Tables S8 , S9.

The choices presented to the child for the main meal and for snacks at 57 months according to the LOC orientation of the parents. The study mothers were asked whether their child had temper tantrums. Proportion of children reported to have temper tantrums according to whether the parent was externally or internally oriented in pregnancy. Mothers were asked the same four questions at three time points 18, 30, and 42 months concerning how they reacted when the child had a tantrum: i whether they ignored it; ii whether they cuddled the child; iii whether they tried to reason with the child; and iv whether they tried to distract the child.

For each item they were given the options: Yes often; yes sometimes, and never. The greater the presence of parent externality rather than internality the more likely it was that the mother would ignore the tantrum Table S Frequency with which child was cuddled during temper tantrum, comparing the orientation of each parent.

In contrast with the other associations with behavior of the mother when the child is having a tantrum, there were no differences between the LOC orientation of either parent in regard to the mother trying to reason with the child Table S Frequency with which mother reasons with the child while having a temper tantrum. The frequency with which the mother tried to distract the child during a tantrum was strongly associated with the LOC orientation of each parent, with the children of internal parents being more likely to experience this often, and the children of external parents being at increased risk of never experiencing this Table S This pattern was highly significant.

Conversely the parents who are both external compared with those who are both internal have greater associations with the mother never trying to distract the child Where the two partners are of different orientations there is some indication that the maternal orientation is more important, but this is not consistent at each age.

Frequency with which mother tries to distract the child during temper tantrum according to the orientation of each of the parents. The mother was more likely to smack the child if she was external rather than internal. A similar pattern was shown for the orientation of the father Table S Frequency mother shouts at the child when having a tantrum 18 months.

We have assessed the frequency with which children are having temper tantrums prior to reaching age 5, primarily to determine whether there were still differences between the children of external and internal parents. A similar pattern was shown with the orientation of the father. Being a parent is a most complex and demanding task. Children present a never ending progression of behavioral challenges for parents and how these demands are met determines their physical, psychological, and emotional development.

The present study looked at some of the most important and complex parenting tasks to see how parents' locus of control appeared to influence children's responses. Developmental situations are complex and no single parental response will always be the best, but some responses are better than others for children over the long term. From what is known about locus of control, parental internality was expected to be associated with positive child outcomes more often than parental externality.

The results of this study reveal that internal and external parents approach the future birth of their child and his or her development in significantly different ways. From attitudes and beliefs expressed prenatally and on most indices of children's behavior and personality through infancy and toddlerhood, children of internal parents behaved differently from those of external parents.

Overall the differences suggest internal as compared to external parents are more involved in acquiring relevant information about parenting skills and more organized and consistent in interactions with their children.

Even before the baby is born, internal parents are more involved in finding out relevant parenting information than are external caretakers.

For example, they were more likely to attend child preparation classes and their partners were more likely to accompany and to be present during labor and delivery than external parents-to-be. Internal as opposed to external mothers are more likely to know the date of their last menstrual period and to ensure their child is immunized by the age of 6 months.

These behaviors are consistent with what is theoretically expected from internals Rotter, ; that is, they, as internal parents, are more likely to seek out more information about the birth experience and subsequent child care than their external peers. The core set of prenatal expectations held by internal parents and the information they gathered beforehand suggest that they also are better prepared for the arrival of the infant than external caretakers.

Such preparation also indicates that they also may be more adept at dealing with future challenges presented by their children's sleeping, eating, and tantrum behaviors than external parents.

The act is consistent with the prenatal attitude of internal parents in which they stated they were more likely to adapt their lives to accommodate their new born than externals data not shown.

Although we do not know all of the possible reasons for it, bed times are more problematic situations for children of external compared to internal parents. External parents appear less able to organize their children's lives and be consistent about procedures surrounding bedtime than internal caretakers.

While we do not know what contributes to this outcome, we do know from past research with adults, that externals are less persistent and structured than internals Nowicki, b. If that is also true of their parenting behavior, then external parents may be less able to behave and parent consistently which, in turn, is more likely to create a confusing and unpredictable environment for their children, thus increasing chances for them to behave more negatively at bedtime.

A similar pattern of behavior surrounded the family's eating behavior as it had with sleeping situations. Externally controlled parents, especially externally controlled mothers, report a more difficult time establishing a family eating routine than their internal counterparts.

Unsettled meal times may add to or perhaps cause the unsettled behaviors that seemed to surround and characterize bedtime for children of external mothers and fathers. With this in mind, it is not surprising that within this mealtime turmoil, children of external parents may eat more than they should. External parents compared to internal ones, are less likely to see the connection between their children's eating behavior and healthy outcomes and so they may also be less likely to monitor what and how much children are eating.

Additional research that actually observes mealtime and bedtime situations is needed to establish exactly what transpires between parents and their children during these situations. However, the data do reveal that children show markedly different patterns of association between the indicators of eating behavior and parent combination of locus of control.

These can be summarized as follows: i difficulty in establishing an eating routine was governed primarily by the orientation of the mother, being higher if the mother was external; ii overeating was most prevalent if both parents were external; the greatest differences were found between them and both parents who were internal; iii if the mother was external the orientation of the father made little difference, however if the mother was internal the orientation of her partner significantly affected the eating behavior; iv children's choosiness about what to eat was most prevalent if the mother was internal; the orientation of her partner made little difference in this behavior; the evidence suggested that the externally oriented mothers had a laissez faire attitude to what their children ate, resulting in a lower prevalence of picky eating.

Additional observational research focusing on exactly what and how the children of internal parents are offered food compared to children of external parents is necessary to resolve the possible explanations offered or to come up with new ones. The unpredictability and chaos that surrounds sleeping and eating routines is also present in how internal and external parents deal with their children's tantrums.

Tantrums are a difficult problem for all parents, especially as children grow older. Often there is a public aspect to the tantrums that increases their impact; children's crying and screaming often draws the unwanted attention and scrutiny of others. However internal and external parents differ in the use of other interventions to deal with their children's tantrums.

External parents appear to be more likely to distance themselves from their children than their internal peers do and less prone to engage them by the use of soothing or distracting interventions. If this is what is occurring then external parents may be creating a more negative and perhaps even hostile interpersonal situation between them and their children during the tantrum behavior which may increase the intensity of the interaction.

Support for this possibility is found in the responses of parents to two additional questions about their reaction to tantrums when their child was 18 months of age. The application of such extreme responses does not bode well for quietening the children or improving the parent child relationship.

As with sleeping and eating behavior, it would be helpful to have observational data of the ongoing interactions between parents and children to evaluate the quality and the effectiveness of internal and external parents' interventions dealing with tantrums.

To summarize. Temper tantrums are common and are only slightly more prevalent if parents are external. However the behaviors of the mother when her child has a temper tantrum varies in regard to her locus of control and that of her partner in the following ways:.

The mother ignores the temper tantrum—this behavior was more often found with external mothers. The fathers' locus of control seemed to make no impact. Reasoning with the child was not associated with the locus of control orientation of either parent. Externally oriented mothers are more likely to shout at or smack their child when he or she is having a tantrum. The father's orientation makes little difference to whether the mother shouts at or smacks the child who is having a tantrum if she is external, but it is associated with a difference in such behavior if she is internal.

Finally we examine the frequency of having tantrums at 57 months. The children of external mothers had more frequent temper tantrums than the children of internal mothers; the locus of control of the father appeared to make little or no contribution to the occurrence of tantrums.

Prenatal parent externality is associated with the consistent parental report of more negative child outcomes than is prenatal parent internality. However the association may be due to external parents having a more negative self-reporting bias than their internal counterparts and it is the bias rather than actual behavioral differences that is responsible for the greater report of problematic child outcomes.

One way to evaluate this possibility would be to gather observations of children's behavior from adults other than parents. Teachers are likely candidates. Teacher ratings of children's personality characteristics and psychological functioning are free from the potential negative self-reporting bias of external parents and could provide unbiased evidence of the differential impact of parental locus of control on children's personal and social behavior.

It is apparent that, at the preschool ages focused on in this study, children with externally controlled parents had more difficulty establishing satisfactory eating and sleeping routines compared to their peers with internally controlled parents. Even before the birth of the child, externally controlled parents were less likely to take advantage of programs that could have better prepared them to deal with a new infant, and when an infant arrived they consistently showed that they were less able to organize and direct their children in their everyday activities like sleeping, eating, or loss of temper.

This consistent pattern of inconsistent and relatively unstructured parenting surrounding bedtime and meal time may produce children who are less prepared for leaving home to attend full time school. They, both boys and girls with external parents, would be expected to have more problems in school paying attention, following directions, and interacting successfully with others. Future research on children's behavior outside the home when they are older is needed to evaluate this expectation.

How can children of external parents be helped to deal with the lack of structure and consistency they experience? One possibility is by supporting and educating their parents. It is likely that the organizational miscues external parents make may originate from a lack of knowledge of what to expect and what to do when the child arrives in their lives.

External parents should be encouraged in every way possible to prepare themselves better for the arrival of their children. External parents may not perceive the connection between what they might learn from prenatal classes and other preparatory experiences that would benefit them in dealing with their child. Because past research shows that externals learn best in structured situations and are especially responsive to primary reinforcement, preparatory programs should be used that take these factors into account.

Besides attempts to improve the child caring knowledge and skill of externally controlled parents, interventions could also focus on directly changing their locus of control orientation toward internality. Some past programs have been marginally successful at changing locus of control in large communities of adults e. At the same time, it might be useful to apply educational programs that help children become appropriately internal e.

Past research has shown that children's internality provides protection from their feelings of helplessness and depression later in childhood. For example Culpin et al. Programs instituted to change younger children toward internality may make them more resilient in dealing with negative forces around them.

The strengths of this project lie in a the use of a prospective design; b the use of a large and representative population of participants; and c the inclusion of both mother's and father's locus of control.

This study is the first to examine the associations of parent locus of control and child outcomes over such an extended period of time and provide substantial evidence of the developmental effects of parent internality and externality on children.

Having said that there are a number of limitations. However, Fraser et al. Another limitation is that the present study was prospective in design, but not a completely longitudinal investigation, since we did not measure parental LOC again during the child's preschool years. It is also possible that as well as parents affecting the children's outcomes, children may have impacted on parents as well. One way to evaluate this possibility also points out another limitation of the present study; there was no direct observation of what went on between parents and children for any of the outcomes.

Some studies have directly observed how internal and external parents behaved when interacting with their children Carton, The same design could be used to examine the behavior of internal and external parents with their children, especially if both parents were involved in the study. Parental locus of control has much to do with how parents interact with their children. It is clear from the present study that parental locus of control is associated with a number of important parent child interactions surrounding social contact, sleeping, eating, and behavioral regulation.

The greater the internality of the parents the better the child outcomes, the greater the externality the worse the child outcomes are in all of these crucial areas except for picky eating in the pre-school child. We suggest that initiatives be made to help parents develop a more internal locus of control with the goal of improving their ability to parent effectively. This publication is the work of the authors and they will serve as guarantors for the contents of this paper.

This research was specifically funded by a grant from the John Templeton Foundation Grant Ref: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. We are extremely grateful to all the families who took part in this study, the midwives for their help in recruiting them, and the whole ALSPAC team, which includes interviewers, computer and laboratory technicians, clerical workers, research scientists, volunteers, managers, receptionists, and nurses.

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Jean Golding ku. This article was submitted to Developmental Psychology, a section of the journal Frontiers in Psychology. Received Jan 26; Accepted Mar The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author s or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice.

No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. This article has been cited by other articles in PMC. Associated Data Supplementary Materials Table1. DOCX 37K. Abstract Locus of control is one of the most widely studied concepts in the history of personality psychology. Lazarus, R. Leavy, R. Lefcourt, H. New York: Academic Press. Louis, M. Manuck, S. McGrath, J. Dunette ed. Mendenhall, M.

Misa, K. Motowidlo, S. Nicholson, N. Novaco, R. Nuckolls, K. Nunnally, J. Oberg, K. Peters, W. Pinneau, S. Rizzo, J. Rotter, J. Schuler, R. Seers, A. Seward, J. Stewart, R. Torbiorn, I. Tung, R. Turner, R. Wells, J. Wolk, S. Download references. You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar. Reprints and Permissions. Locus of control, social support, stress, and adjustment in international transfers.

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Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative. Skip to main content. Search SpringerLink Search. Abstract This study examined the direct effects of locus of control and social support on stressors and adjustment, as well as the moderating effects of these variables on the relationship between stressors and adjustment, for a sample of American managers transferred to overseas positions in four Pacific Rim countries — Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.

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