Locus of control and anxiety in emotionally disturbed children

Perceived Control as a Mediator of Family Environment in Etiological Models of Childhood Anxiety - Republished Article

Recent developments in cognitive and emotion theory emphasize the importance of cognitive dimensions related to control and helplessness. Drawing from evidence in the area of control and explanatory style, the present study used a cross-sectional design to evaluate structural models investigating the relation of perceived control and attribution to family environment, negative affect, and clinical disturbance. It was hypothesized that the anxiogenic and depressogenic influences of a controlling family environment on negative affect would be mediated by cognitive dimensions. A mixed clinical and nonclinical sample of 93 children and their families was assessed, and findings suggested superior fit for the model in which the dimension of perceived control mediated between family environment and negative affect. The findings are discussed with respect to models of the etiology of childhood anxiety.

Perceived Control, Family Environment, and the Etiology of Child Anxiety-Revisited

In 1998, Chorpita, Brown, and Barlow published a now seminal study in Behavior Therapy examining the development of anxiety in children and adolescents using Barlow's 1988 model of the development of anxiety in adults. Mindful of developmental considerations, parental control and children's perceptions of control were considered key factors in this revised model. Since that study, mixed support has accumulated for the role of control, both parental control and children's perceptions of that control, in the development of childhood anxiety. As a result, the measurement of these constructs has been critically examined and refined in recent years and encouraging findings have been obtained. Unfortunately, however, the Chorpita and colleagues study as well as the studies that have followed have used cross-sectional designs and the directionality of effects has not been clearly established. Longitudinal studies are required. Here, we present a qualitative review of these developments and provide directions for future research.

Internal-External Locus of Control: An Analysis and Bibliography of Two Years of Research (1973–1974)

This report provides an analysis and bibliography of 277 locus of control studies published in 1973 and 1974. The references are classified into 17 categories which represent areas of current research interest. Further analyses indicate that: (1) the Rotter I-E scale was employed in 69% of the empirical studies; (2) the research was reported in 75 different journals; and (3) 19% of the studies were published in Psychological Reports.

On feeling in control: A biological theory for individual differences in control perception

This review aims to create a cross-disciplinary framework for understanding the perception of control. Although, the personality trait locus of control, the most common measure of control perception, has traditionally been regarded as a product of social learning, it may have biological antecedents as well. It is suggested that control perception follows from the brain's capacity for self regulation, leading to flexible and goal directed behaviours. To this account, a model is presented which spans several levels of analyses. On a behavioural level, control perception may be a corollary of emotion regulation, executive functions, and social cognition. On a neural level, these self-regulatory functions are substantiated in part by the dorsolateral and ventral prefrontal cortex and the anterior cingulate cortex. In addition, a possible role of subcortical-cortical dopamine pathways underlying control perception is discussed.

Relationships between locus of control and anxiety

Reviews findings on the relationships between locus of control and anxiety and examines these relationships for three types of anxiety measures; general trait anxiety, situation specific trait anxiety, and state anxiety. In general, findings support the existence of meaningful relationships between greater externality and higher levels of both general trait anxiety and test anxiety. It was suggested that the relation between locus of control and state anxiety is a function of the situational context in which state anxiety is measured.