A 20-item Heart Disease Locus of Control Scale was given to 50 health fair attenders and 51 nonattenders. The scale has three subscales: internal (7 items), chance (8 items), and powerful others (5 items). Reliability assessed by test-retest was .83 and Cronbach alphas for the subscales were internal .83, chance .86, and powerful others .76. Validity was examined through content validity, criterion-related validity, construct validity, and discriminant validity. Reading was at the ninth grade. It is recommended that the more specific Heart Disease Scale be utilized when conducting studies of heart disease.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Heart facts—1982. Dallas, TX: American Heart Assn, 1982.
2.
LevensonH.Multidimensional Locus of Control in Psychiatric Patients. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 1973, 41, 397–404.
3.
OckeneJ. U.Comparison of patterns of smoking behavior change among smokers in the multiple risk factor intervention trial. Preventive Medicine, 1981, 11, 621–638.
4.
RotterJ. B.Some problems and misconceptions related to the construct of internal versus external control of reinforcement. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 1975, 43, 56–67.
5.
U.S. Dept. Hlth., Educ., & Welfare.Readability testing in cancer communication. Washington, DC: Author, 1979. (NIH Publ. No. 79-1689).
6.
WallstonB. S.WallstonK. A.Locus of control and health: A review of the literature. Health Education Monographs, 1978, 6, 107–117.
7.
WallstonB. S.WallstonK. A.KaplanG. D.MaidesS. A.Development and validation of the health locus of control (HLC) scale. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 1976, 44, 580–585.
8.
WallstonK. A.WallstonB. S.DeVellisR.Development of the Multidimensional Health Locus of Control (MHLC) Scales. Health Education Monographs, 1978, 6, 160–170.
