Doherty W J
J Pers Soc Psychol. 1983 Apr;44(4):834-40. doi: 10.1037//0022-3514.44.4.834.
Using longitudinal data for adult women from the National Longitudinal Surveys of Labor Market Experience, this study examined the relation between getting divorced and changes in the individual's locus of control orientation. The sample contained 1,814 white women ages 32-46 years who were in their first marriage in 1969. Marital status and locus of control (an 11-item abbreviated version of Rotter's Internal-External Locus of Control Scale) were measured in 1969, 1972, and 1977. Based on previous literature on locus of control and life events and on divorce, stress, and mental health, the author hypothesized that divorced people, in comparison with those who remained married, would show a short-term increase in externality from 1969-1972, followed by a return over the next 5 years to levels of locus of control comparable to that of the group who remained married. It was also hypothesized that locus of control scores would not predict the likelihood of becoming divorced over the 8-year period. All three hypotheses were confirmed. The findings were discussed in the context of two larger theoretical issues: the influence of important life events on locus of control and the causal direction in the well-documented association between divorce and mental health.
本研究利用全国劳动力市场经验纵向调查中成年女性的纵向数据，考察了离婚与个体控制点取向变化之间的关系。样本包括1969年首次结婚的1814名年龄在32至46岁之间的白人女性。在1969年、1972年和1977年测量了婚姻状况和控制点（Rotter内外控制点量表的一个11项简化版）。基于先前关于控制点与生活事件以及离婚、压力和心理健康的文献，作者假设，与婚姻存续者相比，离婚者在1969年至1972年期间会出现短期的外部性增加，随后在接下来的5年里恢复到与婚姻存续者相当的控制点水平。还假设控制点得分无法预测8年期间离婚的可能性。所有三个假设均得到证实。研究结果在两个更大的理论问题背景下进行了讨论：重要生活事件对控制点的影响以及离婚与心理健康之间充分记录的关联中的因果方向。
