Locus of control and aggression

The relationship between locus of control and aggression in children was investigated. Twenty-five students from grades 5 through 8 from a rural public school in southern West Virginia were involved in the research. The students - completed the Children’s Nowicki- Strickland Internal-External Locus of Control scale, and the students’ teachers completed the Conners’ Global Index for measuring psychopathology and hyperactivity. The Pearson Product-Moment Correlation was utilized to evaluate the relationship between the variables. Alpha was set at .05. There was no significant relationship between locus of control and aggression in the children. Research suggests that the expression of aggression is different for males and females. When controlled for gender, the results indicated a significant positive relationship between external locus of control and aggression among males. However, no significant relationship was found among females. The results of this research suggest that in designing programs for violence prevention, gender differences should be addressed and programs appropriate for males may not be appropriate for females. Recommendations for future research are made