title: Relationship of family background variables to locus of control in the elderly.
abstract: The present study sought to determine how family variables are related to locus of control, under the hypothesis that a larger and more cohesive family would provide greater reinforcement for the elderly person's actions. Two hundred elderly aged 60 to 90 were interviewed at home and given Rotter's I-E scale. After removing effects of age and socioeconomic status, in a regression analysis, number of living brothers, sibling cohesiveness, and child cohesiveness accounted for 8% of variance in locus of control, with cohesiveness related to greater internality.
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged / Q000523:psychology*; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D004522:Educational Status; D005190:Family; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009790:Occupations; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012737:Sex Factors; D012801:Sibling Relations