| This longitudinal study examined the role played by locus of control in the prediction of college achievement. Sixty-two high school seniors from a school district in Pennsylvania took the Rotter Locus of Control Scale. SAT scores and demographic profiles were also obtained. Students' academic achievement was monitored throughout their first year in various colleges.; Pearson correlations were conducted to assess the relationship between participants' SAT scores, locus of control orientation, college freshmen grade point averages (GPA), and demographic characteristics such as race, gender, family income, family cohesion, family education, employment status, and fraternity/sorority affiliation. Regression analyses were conducted to measure the amount of variance explained by each independent variable for the dependent variable (first year college GPA) and which independent variable had the strongest unique effects.; Results indicated that the SAT, as well as several demographic characteristics such as mother's education, family cohesion, and gender accounted for a significant portion of the variance when predicting first year college GPAs. However, the data analyses did not reveal locus of control to be a significant predictor of academic achievement in college. |
