A Measure of Experienced Control in Divorced Women

The purpose of this study was to explore one aspect of self-concept in divorced women. The study was concerned with differences in experienced control between a group of wives, a group of recently divorced women, and a group of women who had been divorced for at least one year. In accordance with Experience Control theory, four sources of control were considered: control from inside forces, control over inside forces, control from the environment, and control over the environment. The experience of control was tested in the situations of work, opposite sex, same sex, community, home, other people, and self-in-general. It was found that the three groups did not differ significantly from each other in any of the situations tested. It is suggested by this study that the experience of control is indirectly a variable in the divorce experience. It is suggested that the experience of control is the major difference between divorcees who require psychotherapy and those who do not require intense therapy. These results suggest that treatment should be similar to the therapy used with other people undergoing adjustment problems. The area of concern appears to be the person\u27s ability to successfully deal with stress so that the feeling of being in control is retained, rather than the specifics of the divorce crisis. The EC Scale has been shown to be sensitive to the experiences of a non-psychiatric population undergoing stress, while differentiating it from psychiatric populations