The Validity of Locus of Control Dimensions for Chicano Populations

Abstract

The multidimensional locus of control literature supported the tenability of five factorial dimensions: a) luck; fate, b) leadership/success, c) academics, d) politics, and e) respect. Contending that the contradictory locus ofcontrol findings involving Chicano populations may be due to methodological inadequacies, the purpose ofthe present study was to empirically determine theappropriatenessof the five categories for comparing Chicano and Anglo populations. This was done by factor analyzing the responses of 203 Anglo and 244 Chicano undergraduates to Rotter's (1966) I-E scale separately, and then comparing the corresponding factor pairs by using Cliffs (1966) congruence procedure. The luck/fate and leadership/success factors show substantial invariance across the two samples, whereas the cultural equivalence ofthe remaining three factors is somewhat questionable. The findings are discussed in relation to current knowledge of crosscultural differences between Anglo and Chicano populations.