Locus of Control and Its Relationship to Anxiety and Depression

Abstract

This study proposed that the low-order-correlations reported in the literature between externality and two indices of pathology would be heightened if the externality construct was differentiated into defensive and congruent externality. Defensive externals, who have low expectations of success in achieving valued goals and adopt external beliefs as a defense against feelings of personal failure, should be prone to anxiety; congruent externals, with their sincere belief that reinforcement is not contingent upon their own behavior, fit into the "learned helplessness" paradigm and should become depressed. Sixty male and female college undergraduates were selected as Internal, Defensive External, and Congruent External subjects on the basis of their scores on Levenson's Internal, Powerful Others, and Chance scales, and administered the Self-rating Depression Scale and the Achievement Anxiety Test. Results of the study are equivocal. Congruent externality does manifest a significant positive correlation with depression, but this correlation is low. Defensive externality is significantly positively correlated with debilitating anxiety, but the correlation is greater for congruent externality. Internality is significantly negatively correlated with both depression and debilitating anxiety.

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