Parental Antecedents of Internal-External Control of Reinforcement

Abstract

Two exploratory studies were conducted involving children's reports of parental behavior and parents' child-rearing and internal-external control (I-E) attitudes as antecedents of children's beliefs that the reinforcements they receive are a consequence of their own behavior (internals). Internals, as contrasted to those who believe that reinforcements tend to occur independently of their behavior (externals), reported their parents as showing less rejection, hostile control, and withdrawal of relations, and more positive involvement and consistent discipline. There were no direct relationships between children's I-E beliefs and parents' child-rearing and I-E attitudes. However, parents whose children had an I-E orientation similar to their own expressed less disciplinarian and more indulgent child-rearing attitudes than parents whose children had an I-E belief unlike their own. Parent-child I-E similarity may be mediated by nurturant, accepting parental behavior.

Parental Control in the Etiology of Anxiety

“…Students with an internal locus of control reported their parents to be more positive and lower in rejection, control, inconsistent discipline, and love withdrawal as compared to those with an external locus of control. Davis and Phares (1969) suggested that children might develop an external locus of control in order to avoid the anxiety associated with the increased rejection and hostility. Instead of accepting the failure or deprecation this may cause, they attribute aversive events as outside of their control.…”

“…Thus, researchers have investigated the role it plays in the development of anxiety. The rationale behind these studies is that overcontrolling parental behavior leads children to believe that events are outside of their control (Davis and Phares, 1969). In order to properly present theoretical models in this area, it is first necessary to establish that there is a difference in the family environments of children with different perceptions of control.…”

“…However, findings with behavioral observation were similar to those based on self-reports. The study that utilized undergraduates (Davis and Phares, 1969) did not specify if the measure of parental characteristics was retrospective or current. This would make a significant difference in interpretation.…”

“…An early study evaluated this construct among undergraduate students (Davis and Phares, 1969). Comparisons involved 120 students, half of whom scored on the extreme internal end of a self-report measure of locus of control, and half of whom scored on the extreme external end.…”

Internal-External Locus of Control and Perception of Authority Figures

“…Clearly it would be expected that unpredictable parents would encourage the development of attitudes of External control (p.24). Davis and Phares (1969) and MacDonald (1971) Within this framework, three aspects of the definitional process seemed particularly relevant; namely, the inmates' definitions of the institution (1) as an opportunity structure, (2) as an authority structure and (3) as a predictable environment where future events are contingent on one's behavior (pp.795-796).…”