Locus of control and control perceptions and the relationship between life stress and psychological disorder

Conclusion The deleterious effects of negative life events were demonstrated, even with a relatively restricted range of negative experiences and the inclusion of a number of statistical controls. Employing a conservative multivariate regression model and a prospective design, the present study found that negative life events were consistently positively related to measures of psychological disorder. There was, however, no evidence for the moderating effects of dispositional locus of control beliefs and control perceptions of experienced life events, and it seems that the field awaits more refined conceptualization and measurement of life experiences and hypothesized moderator variables before explanatory and predictive models will yield significant and consistent returns.The authors thank David M. Kuhlman who provided invaluable statistical consultation and helpful comments on an earlier version of this article. Susan Stout and Joani Wendell assisted in the collection and coding of the data.