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Locus of control and depression in students and psychiatric outpatients
Author(s) -
Costello Elizabeth J.
Publication year - 1982
Publication title -
journal of clinical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.124
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1097-4679
pISSN - 0021-9762
DOI - 10.1002/1097-4679(198204)38:2<340::aid-jclp2270380220>3.0.co;2-d
Subject(s) - locus of control , psychology , depression (economics) , beck depression inventory , clinical psychology , psychiatry , developmental psychology , anxiety , economics , macroeconomics
Examined the relationship among depression, locus of control of reinforcement, and age in 26 depressed, female, psychiatric outpatients, 26 nondepressed controls, and 55 undergraduate students (23 male, 32 female), of whom 18 were depressed. The mean age of the patients and controls was 40.2, and of the students 19.7. Depression (measured on the Beck Depression Inventory) and locus of control (measured on Rotter's Internal‐External questionnaire) were correlated highly. Age was correlated negatively with locus of control scores and positively with depression. With age partialled out, the correlation between external locus of control and depression increased. The association between external locus of control is neither a simple function of age nor a response to hospitalization because the depressed S s in this study were out‐patients. The possible causal relationship between external locus of control and depression is discussed.