Impact of Locus of Control on Psychological Well-Being Among Male and Female Adolescents in Anambra State

Abstract

This study focused on investigating how locus of control influences the mental well-being of male and female adolescents from Anambra State, Nigeria. The type of research study was correlational and the respondents were senior Secondary School students of which 396 were males and 367 females. The sampling methods used were multistage and stratified sampling. In data collection the Locus of Control of Behaviour Scale (LCBS) and the Psychological Well-Being Scale (PWS) were used; both instruments yielded high reliability as assessed by Cronbach’s alpha coefficients of 0. 72 and 0. 86, respectively. Specifically, in the regression equations it was discovered that locus of control has a positive correlation with psychological well-being and explained 21% of the variability. It accounts for 8% of the variability in all adolescent youth, 18. 1% among males and 24% among females. The findings underscored the significance of building an internal sense of control to improve adolescents’ psychological adjustment. The study revealed the need to apply such methods to enhance the students’ perceived control in educational programs and calls for future studies to discover other factors that have an impact on psychological well-being across various cultures.