Are the early childhood antecedents of men’s external locus of control similar to those of their female partners?

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Jean Golding, University of Bristol; Yasmin Iles-Caven, University of Bristol; Genette Ellis, University of Bristol; Steven Gregory, University of Bristol; Stephen Nowicki Jr., Emory University
• Language: English
• Date: 2018
• Publisher: F1000Research
• Publication Version: Final Published Version
• Copyright Statement: © 2018 Golding J et al.
• License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.12688/wellcomeopenres.14098.1
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Wellcome Open Research
• ISSN: 2398-502X
• Volume: 3
• Start Page: 28
• End Page: 28
• Grant/Funding Information: This work is supported by the Wellcome Trust (102215) with the UK Medical Research Council (062199); and the University of Bristol currently providing core support for ALSPAC (PI: George Davey Smith).; The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.; The present project was funded by a grant from the John Templeton Foundation (58223) (PIs Jean Golding and Stephen Nowicki).
• Keywords: Parental Influences; Breast Feeding; Childhood; Prenatal Smoking; Maternal Warmth; ALSPAC; Locus of Control; Men
• Research Categories: Health Sciences, Mental Health

Abstract

Background: The concept of locus of control of reinforcement was introduced by Julian Rotter and has been the focus of intense research for nearly half a century. Surprisingly little research has been directed at clarifying antecedents of locus of control (LOC) orientations in adult men apart from a few small studies. We previously identified a number of independent antecedents associated with women’s LOC, including features of their parents and early childhood. This raised the question as to whether these factors were also associated with the development of LOC in men. Methods: To identify antecedents of LOC orientations in a representative population of women we previously analysed information concerning characteristics of their parents and their own childhood experiences using pregnant women taking part in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC). Here we use the same design to determine whether their male partners have similar antecedents of LOC orientation. As previously, we use a hypothesis-free exposome technique using all available information on the parents and childhood of the individuals. Results: We show that men had many of the same antecedent characteristics as the women – in particular, their mother’s year of birth and father’s social group, being exposed to cigarette smoke prenatally, starting to smoke regularly before the age of 11, and having a friend die were all associated with being external. Associations of internality common to both were warm maternal care, being breast fed, being born in an area other than that where they currently live, attending boarding school and having a parent admitted to hospital. Conclusions: In general, the antecedents of male external and internal personalities have many similarities to those of women, thus providing some features to inform the possible theoretical background as to how LOC might develop over time.