Locus of Control, Self-Control, and Gender as Predictors of Internalizing and Externalizing Problems in Children and Adolescents in Northern Chile

Jerome Flores; Alejandra Caqueo-Urízar; Cristián Ramírez; Giaela Arancio; Juan Pablo Cofré

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.02015

Locus of Control, Self-Control, and Gender as Predictors of Internalizing and Externalizing Problems in Children and Adolescents in Northern Chile

Front Psychol. 2020 Aug 12:11:2015. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.02015. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Jerome Flores¹, Alejandra Caqueo-Urízar², Cristián Ramírez¹, Giaela Arancio¹, Juan Pablo Cofré¹

Affiliations

¹ Escuela de Psicología y Filosofía, Universidad de Tarapacá and Centro de Justicia Educacional, Arica, Chile.
² Instituto de Alta Investigación, Universidad de Tarapacá, Arica, Chile.

Abstract

Background: Both the control that people attribute to themselves over a situation (locus of control) and the control they attribute to themselves (self-control) have been proposed as aspects that can have an effect on internalizing problems in young people. There is little evidence of this relationship in the infantile-juvenile population in Latin America.

Objective: To establish whether there is a significant predictive relationship of locus of control and self-control over internalizing and externalizing problems in the infantile-juvenile population, both at a general level and dimension-specific. These include depression, anxiety, social anxiety, somatic complaints, and post-traumatic stress.

Methods: A cross-sectional-correlational study was carried out to establish if there was a possible predictive relationship in 3,664 schoolchildren of both primary (4th-6th grade) and secondary (7th-12th grade) in northern Chile, using the short version of the Nowicki-Strickland scale to measure locus of control, the Tangney scale to measure self-control, and the Child and Adolescent Evaluation System (SENA) to measure the dimensions of internalized problems.

Hypotheses: (1) Greater self-control is associated with lower levels of internalizing and externalizing problems. (2) Higher external locus of control is associated with higher levels of internalizing and externalizing problems. (3) Self-control, locus of control, and gender can together significantly predict each of the internalizing and externalizing problems.

Results: Evidence is found to support the first two hypotheses fully and partially support the third, since gender did not function as a predictor in all models.

Conclusion: The results confirm previous international research in that both locus of control and self-control appear to have a significant influence on internalizing and externalizing problems. Implications for mental health promotion in this population are discussed.

Keywords: infantile-juvenile; internalizing and externalizing problems; locus of control; mental health; self-control.