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Open Access Thesis

Keywords

Motivation in education; Self-control; Self-perception;

Abstract

Researchers tend to agree that self-concept has an influence on the total development of the child (Briggs, 1970). Stanton (1982) suggests that educators should find ways to encourage internality in students' control orientations. Extensive research has been conducted on the constructs of locus of control and self-concept. Some research studies report interesting results concerning a dimension of self-concept--academic self-concept or self-concept as a learner--(Purkey, Raheim, & Cage, 1983; Purkey, 1970; Benner, Frey, & Gilberts, 1983).

The purpose of this study was to explore the construct independence between locus of control and learner self-concept in students at the tenth grade level. A secondary purpose was to look at possible gender differences regarding the correlation of the constructs.

The concerns were addressed by administering a measure of locus of control and a measure of learner self-concept to tenth grade students in two suburban high schools in Northeast Iowa. The measures were then scored and converted to normalized standard scores through a process of area transformation. Pearson-Product-Moment correlation coefficients were generated from the normalized data to determine the relationship between the constructs.

The correlation coefficients were significant at the .001 level for total group, (r = -.4998), males, r = -.4725), and females, r = -.5215). An inverse relationship exists for total group, males and females between the constructs of locus of control and learner self-concept. This inverse relationship may suggest that individuals with a higher self-concept have a more internal control orientation, while individuals with a lower self-concept have an external control orientation. Further research on the constructs of locus of control and learner self-concept is warranted.

Year of Submission

1989

Degree Name

Specialist in Education

Department

Department of Educational Psychology, Foundations, and Leadership Studies

Department

Department of Educational Psychology and Foundations

First Advisor

Donald W. Schmits

Comments

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Date Original

1989

Object Description

1 PDF file (53 pages)

Language

en

File Format

application/pdf

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