Locus of control in children with learning disabilities and hyperactivity: a subgroup analysis

The Nowicki-Strickland Locus of Control Scale (Nowicki & Strickland, 1973) was administered to 51 boys, ages 7 to 9 years. Children were classified into four separate diagnostic groups: (a) attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity (ADDH), (b) learning disabled (LD), (c) ADDH-LD, and (d) controls. Results of a 2 X 2 (ADDH X LD) analysis of variance indicated that the LD diagnostic dimension was associated with heightened externality. Locus of control scores were not found to be significantly related to scores on a variety of other descriptive and diagnostic measures with the exception of IQ-academic achievement discrepancy scores. Results are contrasted with previous findings for ADDH and LD samples and highlight the vulnerability of children who are experiencing even relatively minor learning problems. Implications for intervention and future research are discussed.