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Show UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH ABSTRACTS Kevin Korous Monica Tsethlikai % GAINING CONTROL THROUGH ACTIVITIES Kevin Korous (Monica Tsethlikai) Department of Psychology University of Utah The goal of this study was to explore if participation in different types of activities was related to the development of an internal locus of control in middle childhood. It was hypothesized that children w ho participated in more activities would have more of an internal locus of control than children w h o participated in fewer activities. Participants consisted of 45 adolescent boys and 99 adolescent girls (M = 10, SD = 1.34). Parents were asked to tell us about the activities their child participated in. The listed activities were grouped into four categories based on prior research: 1) sports based activities; 2) school based activities; 3) arts based activities; and community based activities (Barber, Abbott, Blomfield, & Eccles, 2009). To measure locus of control, participants were asked to tell us w h y a situation involving conflict with a peer occurred and what he/she would do. Then the narratives were coded for locus of control using a five-point scale: a score of 1 indicated a greater level of internal control and a score of 5 indicated greater external control. There was a significant difference in locus of control by story, Wilk's A = .348, F(2,143) = 37.64, p < .01, partial if = -348. Participants were significantly more likely to report that the act of overt aggression was an event s/he had control over and could resolve independently whereas participants reported that the act of relational aggression was more externally driven resulting in less control over the situation , t(141) = -4.59, p < .01, mean difference = .123. Additionally, the participants reported a lower sense of control over the breaking of a social norm by a peer than they did in response to the acts of overt and relational aggression, t(141) = -4.093, p < .01, m e a n difference = .108 and t(141) = -8.672, p < .01, mean difference = .115, respectively. There was only one significant correlation a m o n g the different types of activities and the participants' scores on locus of control. Children w h o participated in more arts based activities demonstrated more of an internal locus of control in response to a peer violating a social norm than children w h o participated in fewer arts based activities, r(142) = -.234, p < .01. |
