Reliability of a Multidimensional Locus of Control Construct for Older Adults Anticipating Transitions in Careers

Abstract

and Ware in 1974 provided data on college-age adults which suggested that Ratter's locus of control paradigm might be becter represented as a multidimensional construct. Using a varimax rotation, Reid and Ware reported a three-f-cror solution was parsimonious and tended to support a multidimensional model. The three factors were labeled Self-control. Social Systems Control, and Fatalism. In light of Super's 1983 view that the first stage of planning a career includes a component of autonomy or locus of control, Reid and Ware's multidimensional scale might prove useful for older adults undergoing transiiion in their careers. Since Reid and Ware's college undergraduates representcd those in early career development. the present smdy was conducted with older adult individuals contemplating changes in career to determine the efficacy of the three-factor solution. Only two items did not coincide with Reid and Ware's factor strucrure. lmplications for the application of a multidimensional 1o:us of control scale to career-planning were discussed.One of the far-reaching effects of advanced technology upon individuals is the increased likelihood of changing career-patterns. The rise and fall of entire industries in the xatter of a single decade (Naisbitt, 1982; Toffler, 1980) is likely to engender concomitant multiple occupational changes on the part of workers. Brown and Prichard (1983) stated that people will need to make multiple career-chanses in response to the transition from an industrial to an information-based economy. Such transitions suggesc an increasing need to delineate more fully the adult career maturity process.Recently Super (1983) has suggested a five-stage model for assessing career maturity (planfulness, exploration, information, decision making, and reality orientation). The r'irsc component of Stage 1 he labeled "autonomy". Super stated "planning cac take place only if people believe that they have some control over their carcers. Often called locus of control, it has been the subject of many studies of personality but has only recently been taken into account in career development theory and research" (p. 557).Following from his sccial learning constructs, Rotter (1966Rotter ( , 1971) developed a 29-item, forced-choice instrument to assess the extent to which individuals believe chey are in conrrol of their own reinforcers, termed "locus 'Requests for reprints should br sent to

Measuring locus of control: A critique of general, children's, health‐ and work‐related locus of control questionnaires

“…Results indicated three distinct factors similar to those postulated by Reid & Ware. Richard, Brown & Kelly (1986) have confirmed the three-factor structure and shown this scale to be of use in career counselling with adults.…”