Barbara Strudler Wallston

Perceived control and health

Perceived control (PC) is defined as thebelief that one can determine one’s own internal states and behavior, influence one’s environment, and/or bring about desired outcomes. Two important dimensions of PC are delineated: (1) whether the object of control is located in the past or the future and (2) whether the object of control is over outcome, behavior, or process. A variety of constructs and measures of PC (e.g., efficacy, attribution, and locus of control) are discussed in relation to these dimensions and selected studies are reviewed. The issues, controversies, and limits of the research on perceived control and health are addressed in terms of the antecedents and consequences of perceived control. Investigations should clearly conceptualize the object of perceived control, use measures that match the conceptualization, and when attempting to manipulate control, directly measure perceived control. The relation between PC and health outcomes is complex, and different aspects of PC may interact to affect health outcomes.

6 – HEALTH LOCUS OF CONTROL SCALES1

Health is one of the many areas in which there has been a significant amount of interest in relating locus of control (LOCI beliefs to a variety of relevant behaviors. Much of the earlier work in this area has already been reviewed and is available elsewhere (see Strickland, 1978; Wallston, & Wallston, 1978). In this chapter we will not review this material again but will focus on work that has used the health-specific scales we developed, the Health Locus of Control (HLC] Scale and the Multidimensional Health Locus of Control (MHLC] Scales.2 This chapter will review our own program of research and the programs of others across the country who have been using these scales.3 We have tried to be as complete as possible in covering such work, but much of it is unpublished, and numerous studies are in progress. Thus, although this chapter reflects our current views on the utility and validity of

Social Policy and the Dual-Career Family: Bringing the Social Context into Counseling.

Although most counselors who work with dual-career families are not involved in formal policy analysis and development, their clients are inevitably affected by a broad array of social policies. Values analysis is presented as a tool for counselors to explore the impact of policies on the family. We argue that predominant social values—independence of families, minimal government intervention, separation of home and workplace, and the sex-typed division of labor—lead to policies that create dilemmas for dual-career families. We present and illustrate a counseling process that traces dual-career family dilemmas to discrepancies between family values and the values underlying social policies that affect the family. An alternative set of values based on community and human development is presented as a framework for evaluating current social policies and guiding the formulation of new policies.

Childfree by choice: Attitudes and adjustment of sterilized women

This research compares the attitudes, values and adjustment of childfree women to those of two relevant comparison groups. The study represents a methodological advance in that: (a) the childless sample represents women clearly committed to that lifestyle and (b) childfree women are compared with women who also have made active, although dissimilar, childbearing decisions. Discriminant analysis suggests that voluntarily sterilized, childless women differ from women pregnant for the first time and from women sterilized after having two children in attitudes and values but not adjustment. Findings are discussed in relation to those of other studies which have used: (a) objective assessments of attitudes, values and/or adjustment, and (b) comparison groups.

Gatekeeping Transactions: Women's Resource Acquisition and Mental Health in the Workplace

This research explored gatekeeping transactions of professional women in selected occupational fields. Subjects were asked to keep daily records on strategies they used to gain needed resources from other people in their workplace. Characteristics of gatekeeping transactions were studied as potential stressors that might affect specific indicators of mental health. Results suggest that differences in levels of job satisfaction and substance use can be predicted by specific characteristics of gatekeeping transactions, such as total number of transactions, number of strategies used per transaction, negativity of transactions, and gender and role status of gatekeeper. Patterns of influence strategies used by the subjects are discussed, as are implications for future research on gatekeeping transactions in relation to professional womens mental health and job satisfaction.