The Relationship of Three Measures of Locus of Control to Environment Activism

In response to the issues raised by the critical literature and the desire to more fully explore the role of locus of control in ecologically responsible behavior, this study (a) assessed the adequacy of various locus of control measures for predicting environmental activism and willingness to engage in personal conservation and antipollution activities; (b) examined the modifiability of locus of control under the pressure of a relevant sociopolitical event; and (c) compared unidimensional vs. multidimensional and generalized vs. situation-specific representations of the locus of control construct. The results indicated that locus of control was significantly associated with environmental activism and personal conservation attitudes but that locus of control feelings changed among activists after a disappointing political defeat. The situation-specific, multidimensional locus of control measure was superior to the generalized, unidimensional and generalized, multidimensional measures both in predicting behavior and attitudes and in responding to the sociopolitical event.