Description

The Parental Locus of Control Scale (PLCS-47) is a psychometric instrument designed to assess parents’ beliefs regarding responsibility and control over their children’s behavior.

The scale examines whether parents perceive their influence on their children’s successes and failures as primarily resulting from their own actions (internal locus of control) or from external factors such as the child, circumstances, or other individuals (external locus of control).

The PLCS-47 is particularly useful in developmental psychology, family research, parenting studies, and investigations examining the relationship between parental beliefs and child-related behaviors.

Objective

The primary objective of the PLCS-47 is to evaluate parents’ perceptions of control and responsibility within the parenting context.

The scale aims to identify how parents interpret their role in shaping their children’s behavior and development, distinguishing between beliefs based on personal influence and beliefs attributed to external causes.

The results can support research on parenting practices, parental decision-making, child development, and family functioning.

Structure and Content

The PLCS-47 consists of 47 statements distributed across five subscales assessing different dimensions of parental locus of control.

The five dimensions are:

Parental Efficacy, consisting of 10 items and assessing parents’ beliefs regarding their ability to influence and manage their children’s behavior.

Parental Responsibility, consisting of 10 items and evaluating the degree to which parents perceive themselves as responsible for their children’s outcomes.

Child Control of Life, consisting of 7 items and examining beliefs that children themselves determine important outcomes.

Belief in the Environment, consisting of 10 items and assessing the influence attributed to external circumstances and environmental factors.

Control by Others, consisting of 10 items and evaluating beliefs regarding the influence of other people on children’s behavior and development.

Scoring

Responses are recorded using a five-point Likert scale:

1 = Strongly Disagree
5 = Strongly Agree

Some items require reverse scoring. Each subscale score is calculated by summing the responses of the corresponding items.

Higher scores indicate stronger endorsement of the beliefs represented by each subscale.

Data Analysis and Use

The PLCS-47 is used to identify parental beliefs related to responsibility and perceived control over children’s behavior.

The collected data can be analyzed through:

Descriptive statistics to examine overall patterns of parental locus of control.

Factor analysis to investigate the underlying structure of parental beliefs.

Group comparisons to explore differences according to demographic characteristics, such as gender and age.

The scale can contribute to research examining parental discipline practices, child behavioral outcomes, and family interactions.

Statistical Analysis

Psychometric evaluation of the PLCS-47 includes factor analysis, which identified five factors. Three of these factors corresponded to dimensions of the original version, while two additional factors appeared more specific to the Greek sample but remained conceptually related to the original constructs.

Further statistical analyses may include correlations with parenting behaviors, child adjustment indicators, and demographic variables.

Validity

The construct validity of the PLCS-47 is supported by factor analytic findings demonstrating the presence of five underlying dimensions.

The identified factors reflect important aspects of parental locus of control, including parental responsibility, perceived efficacy, and beliefs regarding external influences on child behavior.

Reliability

The overall internal consistency reliability of the PLCS-47 was satisfactory, with Cronbach’s alpha α = 0.80.

The subscales demonstrated internal consistency values ranging from α = 0.62 to α = 0.81, except for the Child Control of Life subscale, which presented low reliability (α = 0.32).

References

Campis, L. K., Lyman, R. D., & Prentice-Dunn, S. (1986). The parental locus of control scale: Development and validation. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 15, 260–267.

Kokkinos, K. M., & Panayiotou, G. (2004). The influence of parents’ beliefs about control over child behavior on the use of disciplinary practices. Psychologia: The Journal of the Hellenic Psychological Society, 11, 571–584.

Kokkinos, C. M., & Panayiotou, G. (2007). Parental Discipline Practices and Locus of Control: Relationship to Bullying and Victimization Experiences of Elementary School Students. Social Psychology of Education, 10, 281–301.