Predicting HIV risk using a locus of control-based model among university students

Locus of control, personality and depression symptoms in cancer: Testing a moderated mediation model

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the mediator role of locus of control on the relationship between the Big Five personality traits and the manifestation of depression symptoms in cancer outpatients.

METHOD

Participants consisted of 220 cancer outpatients (138 women and 82 men), evaluated individually at the hospital waiting room. The measures applied were as follows: The NEO-Five Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI), Multidimensional Health Locus of Control (MHLC) Scale and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS).

RESULTS

The factor structure of NEO-FFI was reexamined. A moderated mediation model was found for the powerful others external locus of control (LOC), depression symptoms and extraversion and conscientiousness traits across sex.

CONCLUSIONS

Extraverted individuals can seek for others' support and use their attachments to find someone to guide them; conscientious patients can rely on their physician and follow every rule and orientation demanded, temporarily delegating to others the responsibility for their lives. All these strategies can help to decrease symptoms of depression. The perception of control can be taught, and it may be specifically relevant for mental health and in the performance of health behaviours.

Locus of Control, Self-Control, and Gender as Predictors of Internalizing and Externalizing Problems in Children and Adolescents in Northern Chile

BACKGROUND

Both the control that people attribute to themselves over a situation (locus of control) and the control they attribute to themselves (self-control) have been proposed as aspects that can have an effect on internalizing problems in young people. There is little evidence of this relationship in the infantile-juvenile population in Latin America.

OBJECTIVE

To establish whether there is a significant predictive relationship of locus of control and self-control over internalizing and externalizing problems in the infantile-juvenile population, both at a general level and dimension-specific. These include depression, anxiety, social anxiety, somatic complaints, and post-traumatic stress.

METHODS

A cross-sectional-correlational study was carried out to establish if there was a possible predictive relationship in 3,664 schoolchildren of both primary (4th-6th grade) and secondary (7th-12th grade) in northern Chile, using the short version of the Nowicki-Strickland scale to measure locus of control, the Tangney scale to measure self-control, and the Child and Adolescent Evaluation System (SENA) to measure the dimensions of internalized problems.

HYPOTHESES

(1) Greater self-control is associated with lower levels of internalizing and externalizing problems. (2) Higher external locus of control is associated with higher levels of internalizing and externalizing problems. (3) Self-control, locus of control, and gender can together significantly predict each of the internalizing and externalizing problems.

RESULTS

Evidence is found to support the first two hypotheses fully and partially support the third, since gender did not function as a predictor in all models.

CONCLUSION

The results confirm previous international research in that both locus of control and self-control appear to have a significant influence on internalizing and externalizing problems. Implications for mental health promotion in this population are discussed.

Health-seeking behaviors among HIV-negative, high-risk black women living in an urban southern city

This study explores the HIV health information-seeking behavior among Black women living in a southern urban city in the United States. Interviews were conducted with 50 Black women to explore their HIV health-seeking behavior, self-efficacy, and locus of control. Results indicate that despite the multiple HIV risk factors faced by the women a majority of them did not seek out HIV health information. Policy implications for HIV prevention education are discussed.