Locus of Control and Attitudes concerning Military Service

Abstract

Locus of control measures were correlated with attitudes concerning military service. Results, using Rotter's (1961;) standard I-E scale, indicated that the more internal an S: ( a ) the more favorable his attitude is toward an all-volunteer army; and (b) the more likely he is to perceive that avoiding service in the armed forces is a maner of chance. Using a subset of Rotter's items, which presumably best measure personal control, only the latter relationship was reliable.The present study sought to determine the relationship between internalexternal control of reinforcement (cf. Rotter, 1966) and attitudes toward rhe establishment of an all-volunteer army. Following Lichtman and Julian (1964), who demonstrated that internals tended to prefer high, as compared to low, personal control situations, it m-as hypothesized that the more internal an S, the more favorable his attitude toward an all-volunteer army. This hypothesis follows from the assumption that a system, such as an all-volunteer army, is a more controllable situation than is the present, draft-lottery system for those individuals faced with the prospect of serving in the military. The additional assumption, implicit in this hypothesis, that internals are more likely to perceive that avoiding military service is more a matter of chance than ability, given the present draftlottery, was also tested.Twelve 19-yr.-old, male summer students at Rider College from largely middle-class backgrounds served as Ss the week before their lottery number assignment. Ss firsc completed Rotrer's ( 1966) locus of concrol scale. Next they indicated the extent of their agreement with the proposition thac "in the near f u m e the U.S. should move toward an all-volunteer army" (on a six-point scale with endpoints labeled "strongly agree," scored 1, and "strongly disagree," scored 6 ) . Finally, Ss answered the following question: "All things considered, is avoiding service in the armed forces primarily a matter of chance (thac is, luck) or primarily a matter of skill (that is, ability or ingenuity)?" (on a six-point scale with endpoints labeled "alm~st all luck," scored 1, and "almost all ability," scored 6 ) .