Perceived Control
Suzanne C. Thompson and Michèle M. Schlehofer

Measures of Perceived Control, Mastery, and Empowerment
Mastery. Pearlin and Schooler (1978) xClose
Pearlin, L.I., and Schooler, C., (1978). The structure of coping. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 19, 2-21.  developed a general perceived control (mastery) scale consisting of seven items rated on a 7-point Likert scale from "strongly agree" to "strongly disagree." Sample items include, "I often feel helpless in dealing with the problems of life," and "I have control over the things that happen to me." As an example of research using this scale, new mothers with higher levels of mastery were more likely to engage in responsible maternal behavior two years later and less likely to have further pregnancies in that period (DeSocio, Kitzman, & Cole, 2003 xClose
DeSocio, J., Kitzman, H., & Cole, R. (2003). Testing the relationship between self-agency and enactment of health behaviors. Research in Nursing and Health, 26, 20-29. ).

Internality, powerful others, and chance. Levenson's (1981) xClose
Levenson, H. (1981). Differentiating among internality, powerful others, and chance. In H. M. Lefcourt (Ed.), Research with the locus of control construct (Vol. 1, pp. 15-63). New York: Academic Press.  scale consists of 24 items measured on a 6-point response scale ranging from -3 (strongly disagree) to +3 (strongly agree). The scale includes separate measures of internality (general perceived control; 8 items), control by others (8 items), and the effects of chance (8 items). Sample items include: "When I make plans, I am almost certain to make them work" (internality); "I feel like what happens in my life is mostly determined by powerful people" (control by others); and "To a great extent my life is controlled by accidental happenings" (effects of chance). General perceived control, as assessed with Levenson's (1981) xClose
Levenson, H. (1981). Differentiating among internality, powerful others, and chance. In H. M. Lefcourt (Ed.), Research with the locus of control construct (Vol. 1, pp. 15-63). New York: Academic Press.  scale, has been found to predict amplification-seeking among hearing- impaired individuals (Cox, Alexander, & Gray, 2005 xClose
Cox, R. M., Alexander, G. C., & Gray, G. A. (2005). Who wants a hearing aid? Personality profiles of hearing aid seekers. Ear and Hearing, 26, 12-26. ).

Spheres of control. Paulus' (1983) xClose
Paulhus, D. L. (1983). Sphere-specific measures of perceived control. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 44,1253-1265.  Spheres of Control Scale (for more recent versions Spittal, Siegart, McClure, & Walkey, 2002 xClose
Spittal, M. J, Siegart, R. J., McClure, J. L., & Walkey, F. H. (2002). The Spheres of Control scale: The identification of a clear replicable three-factor structure. Personality and Individual Differences, 32, 121-131. ) consists of 30 items rated on a 7-point Likert scale from "strongly agree" to "strongly disagree." The scale includes separate measures of personal efficacy (10 items), interpersonal control (10 items), and sociopolitical control (10 items). Sample items include: "When I make plans I am almost certain to make them work" (personal efficacy); "I have no trouble making and keeping friends" (interpersonal control); and "One of the major reasons we have wars is because people don't take enough interest in politics" (sociopolitical control). To date, no health behavior studies have been conducted using this scale.

Multidimensional health locus of control. Wallston, Wallston, and DeVellis' (1978) xClose
Wallston, K. A., Wallston, B. S., & DeVellis, R. (1978). Development of the multidimensional Health Locus of Control Scales. Health Education Monographs, 6, 161-170.  Multidimensional Health Locus of Control scale is an 18-item measure of perceived control over health outcomes measured on a 6-point Likert scale ranging from "strongly disagree" to "strongly agree." The scale includes separate measures of health-specific perceived control: internal, chance, and powerful others; each assessed with 6 items. Sample items include: "If I take the right actions, I can stay healthy" (internal); "No matter what I do, if I am going to get sick, I will get sick" (chance), and "My family has a lot to do with my becoming sick or staying healthy" (powerful others). This scale has been frequently used to assess health locus of control. For instance, research with the scale has found that Mexican American women who received a health self-care manual coupled with seminars training them on how to use the manual significantly increased in self-care behavior and internal and powerful other health locus of control (Kennedy, DeVoe, Ramer-Henry, & West-Kowalski, 1999 xClose
Kennedy, C. A., DeVoe, D., Ramer-Henry, K., & West-Kowalski, J. (1999). Influence of self-care education on illness behaviors and health locus of control of Mexican American women. Women and Health, 28, 1-13. ).

Family empowerment. The Koren, Dechillo, and Friesen (1992) xClose
Koren, P. E., Dechillo, N., & Friesen, B. (1992). Measuring empowerment in families whose children have emotional disabilities: A brief questionnaire. Rehabilitation Psychology, 37, 305-321.   Family Empowerment Scale consists of 34 items with a 5-point response scale "not at all true" to "very true." A sample item is, "I feel I can have a part in improving services for children in my community." As an example of this scale's use, the diabetic children of women with a stronger sense of empowerment have better adherence to treatment (Florian & Elad, 1998 xClose
Florian, V., & Elad, D. (1998). The impact of mothers' sense of empowerment on the metabolic control of their children with juvenile diabetes. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 23, 239-247. ).

Perceived Behavioral Control
Measures of perceived behavioral control are usually devised by the researchers for a particular study, though many studies use items similar to the ones developed by Armitage and Connor (1999) xClose
Armitage, C. F., & Conner, M. (1999). Distinguishing perceptions of control from self-efficacy: Predicting consumption of a low fat diet using the theory of planned behavior. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 29, 72-90. .  Examples of items from Armitage and Connor (1999) xClose
Armitage, C. F., & Conner, M. (1999). Distinguishing perceptions of control from self-efficacy: Predicting consumption of a low fat diet using the theory of planned behavior. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 29, 72-90.   are "Whether or not I eat a low fat diet is entirely up to me," and "How much personal control do you feel you have over eating a low-fat diet?" In one longitudinal study, perceived behavioral control predicted engagement in physical exercise (Armitage, 2005 xClose
Armitage, C. F. (2005). Can the theory of planned behavior predict the maintenance of physical activity? Health Psychology, 24, 235-245. ).

Self-Efficacy
Self-efficacy, as originally conceived by Bandura (1977) xClose
Bandura, A. (1977). Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychological Review, 84, 191-215. , is specific to a particular outcome. A large number of self-efficacy scales that are specific to a particular health behavior have been developed. Many studies have also used items developed just for that particular study. See: self-efficacy

Locus of Control
General locus of control. Rotter's (1966) xClose
Rotter, J. B. (1966). Generalized expectancies for internal versus external control of reinforcement. Psychological Monographs, 80 (1, Whole No. 609).   I/E Scale is a 29-item scale that assesses internal locus of control with a forced-choice format pairing external and internal control alternatives. A sample item pairing is, "I have often found that what is going to happen will happen" vs. "Trusting fate has never turned out as well for me as making a decision to take a definite course of action." Smokers who were more internal in LOC were more successful in their efforts to stop smoking (Rosenbaum & Argon, 1979 xClose
Rosenbaum, M., & Argon, S. (1979). Locus of control and success in self-initiated attempts to stop smoking. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 35, 870-872. ). Interestingly, it was difficult to locate recent (published in the past 20 years) health behavior studies that used general LOC. Almost all studies used a general perceived control or health-related LOC. measure. Rotter's scale is available in Robinson, Shaver, and Wrightsman (1991) xClose
Robinson, J. P., Shaver, P. R., & Wrightsman, L. S. (1991). Measures of personality and social psychological attitudes. San Diego: Academic Press. .

Specific locus of control. There are several examples of specific locus of control scales. Donovan and O'Leary (1978) xClose
Donovan, D. M., & O'Leary, M. R. (1978). The drinking-related locus of control scale: Reliability, factor structure and validity. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 39, 759-784.   have created a 25-item Drinking Locus of Control scale rated on a forced-choice format pairing internal and external control alternatives. A sample pairing is, "I feel so helpless in some situations that I need a drink" vs. "Abstinence is just a matter of deciding that I no longer want to drink." Among a sample of women who were recovering alcoholics, internal drinking locus of control predicted abstinence from drinking, waiting a longer period of time before starting to drink, drinking less on the first occasion of drinking, and drinking for fewer consecutive days (Koski-Jannes, 1994 xClose
Koski-Jannes, A. (1994). Drinking-related locus of control as a predictor of drinking after treatment. Addictive Behaviors, 19, 491-495. ).

The four-item Weight Locus of Control scale, developed by Saltzer (1982) xClose
Saltzer, E. B. (1982). The Weight Locus of Control (WLOC) Scale: A specific measure for obesity research. Journal of Personality Assessment, 46, 620-628. , assesses how one's weight is determined, ranging from internal to external determinants. The scale is rated on a 6-point Likert scale (strongly disagree to strongly agree). A sample item is, "Being the right weight is largely a matter of good fortune." Among those with an internal sense of weight locus of control, personal attitudes towards weight loss predict weight loss intentions. However, among those with an external sense of weight locus of control, normative beliefs predict weight loss intentions (Saltzer, 1981 xClose
Saltzer, E. B. (1981). Cognitive moderators of the relationship between behavioral intentions and behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 41, 260-271. ).

Self-Control/Self-Regulation
Rosenbaum (1980) xClose
Rosenbaum, M. (1980). A schedule for assessing self-control behaviors: Primary findings. Behavior Therapy, 11, 109-121. developed a 36-item scale of self-control, rated on a 6-point Likert scale ranging from +3 (very characteristic of me; extremely descriptive) to -3 (very uncharacteristic of me; extremely nondescriptive). The scale measures four components of self-control:

1. cognitive control of emotional and physiological responses (12 items);
2. application of problem-solving strategies (11 items);
3. ability to delay gratification (4 items); and
4. self-efficacy (9 items).

Realistic/Unrealistic Control
Realistic and unrealistic control. Zuckerman, Knee, Kieffer, Rawsthorne, and Bruce's (1996) xClose
Zuckerman, M., Knee, C. R., Kieffer, S. C., Rawsthorne, L., & Bruce, L. M. (1996). Beliefs in realistic and unrealistic control: Assessment and implications. Journal of Personality, 64, 435-464.   Realistic and Unrealistic Control Scales consist of 33 items measured on a 7-point Likert scale ranging from "strongly agree" to "strongly disagree." Separate measures of realistic (18 items) and unrealistic control (15 items) are obtained. An example of a realistic control item is: "Success in life depends mostly on how hard you study or work." An example of an item measuring unrealistic control is: "There is no such thing as misfortune; everything that happens is the result of our own doing." A stronger sense of realistic control was associated with less risky sexual behavior while unrealistic control was associated with more risky sexual behavior (Zuckerman et al., 1996 xClose
Zuckerman, M., Knee, C. R., Kieffer, S. C., Rawsthorne, L., & Bruce, L. M. (1996). Beliefs in realistic and unrealistic control: Assessment and implications. Journal of Personality, 64, 435-464. ).

Illusory control. The Illusory Control Scale by Friedland, Kienan, and Regev (1992) xClose
Friedland, N., Kienan, G., & Regev, Y. (1992). Controlling the uncontrollable: Effects of stress on the illusory perceptions of controllability. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 63, 923-931. assesses control over uncontrollable events via hypothetical situations; for instance, by asking the respondent to indicate whether they would rather choose their own lottery ticket numbers or rely on the machine to choose. The scale consists of 5 items assessed on a 10-point Likert scale (e.g., "let the machine choose for me" to "choose the ticket myself"). The Illusory Control Scale was associated with greater use of illusory (i.e., ineffective) HIV-protection strategies among college students and gay men in the community (Thompson, Kent, Thomas, & Vrungos, 1999 xClose
Thompson, S. C., Kent, D. R., Thomas, Cr., & Vrungos, S. (1999). Real and illusory control over exposure to HIV in college students and gay men. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 29, 1128-1150. ).

Desire for Control/Preferences for Involvement
Desire for control. The Desire for Control Scale (Burger & Cooper, 1979 xClose
Burger, J. M., & Cooper, H. M. (1979). The desirability of control. Motivation and Emotion, 3, 381-393. ) consists of 20 items rated on a 7-point response scale from "Does not apply to me at all" to "Always applies to me." Sample items are, "I enjoy having control over my own destiny," and "I enjoy being able to influence the actions of others." Higher desire for control is positively related to engagement in more health protective behaviors (as cited in Burger, 1992 xClose
Burger, J. M. (1992). Desire for control: Personality, social, and clinical perspectives. New York: Plenum Press. ).

Desired control. Reid and Zeigler's (1981) xClose
Reid, D. W., & Ziegler, M. (1981). The Desired Control Measure and adjustment among the elderly. In H. M. Lefcourt (Ed.), Research with the locus of control construct (Vol. 1, pp. 127-157). New York: Academic Press.   Desired Control Scale contains 70 items rated on a 5-point response scale from "strongly agree" to "strongly disagree." The scale consists of two subscales: desire of outcomes (desired control; 35 items), and beliefs and attitudes (which assesses control expectancy of outcomes; 35 items). Sample items are: "How important is it to you that you maintain your health?" (desired control) and "I can rarely get out to do things I want" (beliefs and attitudes). To date, no health behavior studies have been conducted using this scale.

Decision involvement questionnaire. Thompson, Pitts, and Schwankovsky (1993) xClose
Thompson, S. C., Pitts, J. S., & Schwankovsky, L. (1993). Preferences for involvement in medical decision-making: Situational and demographic influences. Patient Education and Counseling, 22, 133-140.   have developed a measure of decision involvement. Respondents read four vignettes describing various medical problems and rate who should make the treatment decision on a 5-point scale from "the doctor alone" to "you alone." A sample vignette is, "Suppose you fall and seriously injure your knee. There are two treatment programs that are medically appropriate for your condition. You can either have surgery that will be painful and require bed rest for a month OR you can enter a twice-a-week rehabilitation program for a year. Both have a 90% chance of success." Participants had a stronger preference to be involved in medical decisions that did not require medical expertise than those that did require expertise (Thompson et al., 1993 xClose
Thompson, S. C., Pitts, J. S., & Schwankovsky, L. (1993). Preferences for involvement in medical decision-making: Situational and demographic influences. Patient Education and Counseling, 22, 133-140. ).

Control Strategies
The Health Engagement Control Strategies (HECS; Wrosch, Schulz, & Heckhausen, 2002 xClose
Wrosch, C., Schulz, R., & Heckhausen, J. (2002). Health stresses and depressive symptomatology in the elderly: The importance of health engagement control strategies. Health Psychology, 21, 340-348. ) is a nine-item measure rated on a 5-point scale: "almost never true" to "almost always true." Sample items include, "I invest as much time and energy as possible to improve my health," and "I do whatever is necessary to be as healthy as I possibly can be." To date, no health behavior studies have been conducted using this scale.