Some Antecedents and Personality Correlates of Health Locus of Control

The study addressed the question of whether the history of early childhood illnesses and accidents is a determinant of internal-external expectancy in the health area. In addition, it tested the hypotheses that internal health locus of control would be related to good adjustment and to low death anxiety. Ratings of the intensity and frequency of illnesses and accidents experienced during childhood were made by 86 subjects. Subjects were also administered the Health Locus of Control Scale, the Death Anxiety Scale, and the Bell Adjustment Inventory. Female subjects showed a significant relationship between number of reported childhood illnesses and externality in the health area. For males there was a low order, non-significant ( r = .20) trend for adjustment to correlate with internality. Death anxiety was not related to health locus of control. Results were interpreted within the context of differential cultural role expectations for the sexes, the importance of the reinforcement value in predicting area-specific behavior, and by considering different defenses against death anxiety as may affect the performance on the health scale.