Masters Theses

Date of Award

8-1989

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Major

Teacher Education

Major Professor

Susan M. Benner

Committee Members

Charles H. Hargis, Jean Schindler

Abstract

Locus of control in mentally retarded individuals is generally found to be more externally oriented than it is in nonretarded persons of the same chronological age. This means that the retarded person usually sees events as being outside the realm of personal control. A person's outlook on the world is an important of an individual's behavior and interaction with society. Adaptive behavior is greatly influenced by the person's feelings of effectiveness in daily situations.

Testing locus of control in mildly and moderately retarded individuals cannot be accomplished using an instrument designed for nonretarded persons. There is not a testing scale devised specifically for this population; therefore, a new instrument had to be developed.

A locus of control scale containing 32 questions was designed to address the mildly and moderately retarded adolescent and young adult population. It was administered to 24 students aged 14 to 21 at a special public school. The questions were administered orally and required only a yes or no response. Items were assigned 1 point for answers considered to indicate internal locus of control and 0 for external responses. Test-retest reliability was used, and the Pearson product-moment correlation was computed on the results.

The results produced a .80 reliability coefficient on both the raw scores and the I scores. The relationship between locus of control and IQ was inconclusive. Further testing with a larger sample in mainstream settings was recommended. It was noted that the scale needed to be assessed for concurrent validity with an established instrument.

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