Social Support and Feelings of Personal Control in Later Life

Abstract

The purpose of this chapter is to explore the interface between feelings of personal control and social support in later life. As a number of researchers have pointed out (e.g., Rodin, 1990; Turner & Roszell, 1994), the construct of control has been operationalized in many different ways. Among the specific variables subsumed under this broad rubric are mastery (Pearlin & Schooler, 1978), fatalism (Wheaton, 1983), and locus-of-control orientation (Rotter, 1966). Although there are differences in the way these variables have been defined and measured, they nevertheless share a common conceptual core. Embedded within each measure is the notion that individuals with a strong sense of control believe that changes in their social environment are responsive to and contingent upon their own choices, efforts, and actions. In contrast, people with a weak sense of control believe that the events in their lives are shaped by forces outside their influence, and that they have little ability to affect the things that happen to them.