Locus of control and control perceptions and the relationship between life stress and psychological disorder

This study tested the effects of life stress and variables hypothesized to moderate these effects using a multivariate hierarchical regression model. College undergraduates served as subjects. The variables of life stress, dispositional locus of control beliefs, perceptions of control over life event outcomes and psychological disorder were measured at two points in time. At both measurement periods, negative life events were significantly related to psychological disorder. This relationship was found even when initial psychological disorder was statistically controlled. Dispositional locus of control beliefs and control perceptions failed to moderate the effects of life events at either measurement period. Control perceptions appeared to be more a function of event characteristics than subjects' dispositional characteristics, given that these perceptions were unrelated to locus of control beliefs and that the outcomes of negative events were consistently viewed as less controllable than those of positive events. The findings support the relationship between life stress and psychological disorder but they call into question the moderating effects of locus of control beliefs and perceptions of control over life event outcomes.