Locus of Control and Beliefs about Superstition and Luck in Adolescents: What's their Relationship?

AbstractThe aim of this research was to examine the relationships of locus of control with personal beliefs about superstition and luck expressed by Sicilian middle and late adolescents enrolled from two Public Senior High Schools in East Sicily (Italy). A self- report questionnaire formed by two Semantic Differentials, referred to the concepts of “luck” and “superstition”, the Locus of Control of Behavior Scale (LoC: Craig et al., 1984), the Personal Beliefs in Superstition Scale, and the Personal Beliefs in Good Luck Scale (Darke & Freedman, 1997) were used. Results showed that late adolescents were more internally LoC-believers than middle ones, while middle adolescents were more externally LoC-believers than late ones. Middle adolescents were more superstitious and greatly believed in good luck than late ones. The more the adolescents were internally LoC-believers, the less they believed in superstition; on the contrary, the more the adolescents were externally LoC-believers, the more they’ve put their faith in superstition and good luck. Future researches could be addressed toward the influence of personality factors and resilience on beliefs about superstition and luck