Nowicki Stephen, Iles-Caven Yasmin, Gregory Steven, Ellis Genette, Golding Jean
Department of Psychology, Emory UniversityAtlanta, GA, USA.
Centre for Child and Adolescent Health, School of Social and Community Medicine, University of BristolBristol, UK.
Front Psychol. 2017 Apr 12;8:546. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00546. eCollection 2017.
Locus of control is one of the most widely studied concepts in the history of personality psychology. In spite of its popularity and its associations with numerous relevant outcomes, the ability of locus of control to predict future behaviors involving parenting effectiveness has been under researched. The few parent locus of control children's outcome studies are characterized by cross-sectional methodologies that focus on mothers. The present study uses a prospective methodology to compare data on mothers' and fathers' locus of control with their child's behavior outcomes from a large scale research project, the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC). Based on Rotter's Social Learning Theory published in 1954 and past empirical research, it was predicted and found that parent internality was associated with more positive child outcomes than parent externality. More specifically, when both parents were internal, their children had more positive outcomes in sleeping, eating, and tantrum behavior as compared to any other parent locus of control combination. However external parents had a less restrictive attitude which appeared to have a more beneficial effect on picky eating. Results confirmed how important parent locus of control is in the lives of children. Based on the findings, researchers are urged to develop interventions to change advice to parents and promote more internal locus of control among parents.
控制点是人格心理学史上研究最为广泛的概念之一。尽管它很受欢迎，且与众多相关结果有关联，但控制点预测未来涉及育儿成效行为的能力却鲜有研究。少数关于父母控制点与孩子结果的研究采用的是关注母亲的横断面研究方法。本研究采用前瞻性研究方法，将来自一项大型研究项目“雅芳父母与儿童纵向研究”（ALSPAC）中母亲和父亲的控制点数据与其孩子的行为结果进行比较。基于1954年发表的罗特社会学习理论及以往的实证研究，研究预测并发现，与父母外控相比，父母内控与更积极的孩子结果相关。更具体地说，当父母双方都内控时，与其他任何父母控制点组合相比，他们的孩子在睡眠、饮食和发脾气行为方面有更积极的结果。然而，外控型父母的限制态度较少，这似乎对挑食有更有益的影响。结果证实了父母控制点在孩子生活中的重要性。基于这些发现，敦促研究人员制定干预措施，改变对父母的建议，并促进父母更多地具有内控倾向。
