Relations among psychosocial development, locus of control, and time orientation.

The research concerned relations among development at Erikson's first six stages of psychosocial development, locus of control, and several measures of time orientation. The investigation involved 68 female and 65 male high school and university students. Development at Erikson's Stages 1,3, 4, and 5 was significantly related to the I-E Scale, with positive development being associated with internal control. Locus of control was also related to sex and age. Women were found to be more externally controlled than men. Internal control was associated with increasing age over the range from 15 to 25 years. Development at each of Erikson's first five stages was significantly correlated with one or more measures of tempiral relatedness, or integration of perceived past, present, and future time zones. Other measures of time orientation failed to show consistent relations to psychosocial development.