Effect of Locus of Control and Gender on Stress Levels of Late Adolescents

An attempt was made to compare the effect of gender and locus of control (LoC) on stress level of 200 adolescents (100 males and 100 females) in the age range of 17 to 19 years, selected from different areas of Cuttack city, Odisha, India. Based on the demographic information and responses of 442 adolescents (240 males and 202 females) on J.B. Rotter's LoC scale, a median split was used to select 200 participants with extreme (low and high) LoC scores, who were administered the Sheldon Cohen's Perceived Stress Scale. Obtained scores were analyzed with a 2 (Gender: Male versus Female) x 2 (LoC: Internal versus External) between-subjects ANOVA. The main effect of gender yielded an F (1, 196) = 1.32, p > .05, indicating that there was no significant difference between the mean stress scores of males (M = 22.09, SD = 4.64) and females (M = 22.66, SD = 5.42). The main effect of LoC yielded an F (1, 196) = 215.83, p < .001, indicating that the mean stress score was significantly higher for the external group (M = 26.01, SD = 2.88) than the internal group (M = 18.74, SD = 4.01) . The interaction effect (Gender x LoC) was not significant, F (1, 196) = .18, p > .05. Irrespective of gender, those with an external locus of control experienced more stress than those with an internal locus of control. The study suggests that for adolescents to experience less stress, they need to strike the right balance between the two states of their locus of control: internal and external. The implication is that college-going adolescents be counseled and trained in effective coping strategies to deal with stress. Keywords: Cohen’s Perceived Stress Scale, gender, late adolescents, locus of control (LoC), stress