Effects of Self-Concept and Locus of Control On Academic Achievement: a Large-Sample Path Analysis

Abstract

School interventions are often based on the assumption that psychological variables such as self-concept and locus of control should have a meaningful impact on achievement. Yet research support for such influences is inconsistent. The purpose of the present study was to determine the extent of the influence of self-concept and locus of control on academic achievement, while controlling for other relevant influences. Data from a large, representative sample of U.S. high school students were analyzed using path analysis, a nonexperimental research technique. The results suggest that locus of control has a meaningful impact on high school seniors' achievement, that is, more internal students also achieve at a higher level. Self-concept, however, had no meaningful effect on achievement. Further, the pattern of influences of self-concept and locus of control on achievement were quite similar for males and females, suggesting no interaction with these variables and gender in their impact on achievement.

Locus of Control, Test Anxiety, Academic Procrastination, and Achievement among College Students

“…Consistent with prior findings (2, 6), internally oriented students reported less academic procrastination and also scored lower on debilitating test anxiety than externally oriented students. That internally oriented students reported higher GPAs than externally oriented students confirmed prior work (4,7). The association of academic procrastination with increased debilitating test anxiety should be interpreted with caution because such a small amount of common variance was accounted for.…”

“…Internally oriented students may then procrastinate less, experience less test anxiety, and achieve higher academically than externally oriented students. While internality has been generally associated with lower test anxiety (2, 5 , 8) and higher achievement (4,7), research on the relation between locus of control and academic procrastination has been somewhat mixed. For example, academic procrastination has been unrelated to locus of control (3), whereas less time to complete a task was taken by students with an internal locus of control (6).…”

Factors influencing racial comparisons of self-esteem: A quantitative review.

“…Such weights are proportional to sample size, reflect the precision of each ES as an estimate of the population ES, and are optimal in that they provide a minimum variance estimate. However, optimal weighting was problematic given the current data set, which included seven studies (Collins, 1993;Griffith, 1985;Keith, Pottebaum, & Eberhart, 1986;Kohr, Coldiron, Skiffington, Masters, & Blust, 1988;Lay & Wakstein, 1985; J. W. Osborne, 1995;Tashakkori & Thompson, 1991 ) whose 15 comparisons involved extremely large samples. These 15 ESs amounted to less than 6% of the 261 ESs but contributed 86% (542,129) of the 632,872 total participants in the sample and 80% of the total optimal weight.…”

Some Correlates of Academic Dishonesty among Serial-Academically Frustrated Undergraduates in Ogun State, Nigeria

“…A relationship between locus of control and academic dishonesty has been found among average ability samples, whereby those with an external locus of control are more likely to engage in academic dishonesty than those with an internal locus of control (Gallagher, 2010;Rettinger & Kramer, 2009). Those students with an internal locus of control had above average college course grades and greater academic success overall (Carden, Bryant, & Moss, 2004;Keith, Pottebaum & Eberhardt, 1986;Kirkpatrick, Stant, Downes & Gaither, 2008). Moreover, when college students move from an external to an internal locus of control, their grades tend to improve (Noel, Forsyth, & Kelley, 1987).…”