[Validity and reliability of the Children's Health Locus of Control Scale]

The Multidimensional Health Locus of Control (MHLC) scales have been widely used as a measurement of health beliefs in child populations. Studies were conducted with healthy and chronic physically ill children aged 10-12 (primary school, 4th-6th grade) and 13-15 (junior high school, 1st-3rd grade) to develop an instrument to measure children's health locus of control. An eight week study provided evidence that the MHLC has acceptable levels of reliability, (test-retest reliability, r = .74), internal consistency, (coefficient alpha ranging from .73 to .78) and construct validity. Item analysis and factor analysis were performed to determine item effectiveness and existence of significant subscales. The main results concerning validity were as follows: Health behavior of healthy children was positively correlated with internal factors. Self-report with self-care behavior of children with bronchial asthma was positively correlated with internal factors. The results were discussed in reference to previous studies.