Locus of Control and Gender as Moderators of Perceived Stress in Indian Adolescents

Objective: In this study, we examined the effect of locus of control and gender on perceived stress in adolescents. Methods: Using random sampling, 400 adolescents (200 boys and 200 girls) were selected from 5 different educational institutions in the city of Cuttack, India. We administered Rotter’s Locus of Control Scale, and the obtained scores were subjected to an extreme group analysis for shortlisting 200 adolescents (100 boys and 100 girls) with extreme (low and high) scores. Subsequently, the shortlisted students were administered Cohen’s Perceived Stress Scale, and the scores obtained were analyzed using a between-subjects ANOVA. Results: The effect of locus of control on perceived stress was found to be statistically significant, and internal-control adolescents reported lower perceived stress than external-control adolescents. However, both the main effect of gender and the interaction effect (locus of control x gender) were not statistically significant. Conclusion: Our results suggest that adolescents with internal locus of control report lower perceived stress than their external counterparts. We discuss the implications and directions for future research.