Task Persistence and Locus of Control in Elementary School Children

Task persistence was considered an academic behavior related to a child's generalized expectancy of causal attribution. The relationship frequently found between a child's locus of control orientation and his or her academic achievement was believed to be due, at least in part, to the infl...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Child development 1977-12, Vol.48 (4), p.1716-1719
Main Authors: Gordon, Donald A., Jones, Richard H., Short, Nancy L.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Academic achievement
Anagrams
Brief Reports
Causality
Children
Elementary school students
Locus of control
Pretests
Psychological reinforcement
Unconsciousness
Vigilance
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Summary:Task persistence was considered an academic behavior related to a child's generalized expectancy of causal attribution. The relationship frequently found between a child's locus of control orientation and his or her academic achievement was believed to be due, at least in part, to the influence of locus of control on task persistence. To assess this possibility, the Nowicki-Strickland Internal-External Locus of Control Scale was administered to 147 third- and sixth-grade boys and girls. Of this sample, 96 children were given an anagram task with instructions that performance was due either to skill or chance. The effects of locus of control on persistence time differed for third and sixth graders and for boys and girls. Thus, sex and age of the child were shown to be moderator variables in the task persistence-locus of control relationship. Skill and chance instructions had no effect upon persistence time. The results suggest that generalized expectancies associated with locus of control are related to persistence, whereas specific expectancies induced by skill or chance instructions are not.
ISSN:0009-3920
1467-8624
DOI:10.2307/1128543