Relationship between Self-Esteem and Internal-External Control for Men and Women

Fish and Karabenick ( 1971) investigated the relationship between Rotter's (1966) Internal-External Control Scale and Janis and Field's (1959) Feelings of Inadequacy Scale for males only. AS predicted, there was a significant correlation of -.28 (p < .001), indicating that men with higher self-esteem tend to be internally oriented. Such an outcome is not surprising since earlier investiga[ions have indicated that internals describe themselves as being self-confident, independent, assertive, persevering and insightful, while externals tend to describe themselves unfavorably, as being self-pitying, anxious and inadequate. In light of recent studies which indicate that many of the correlates of locus of control differ for men and women (Hjelle & Clouser, 1970; Platt, Pomeranz, Eisenman, & DeLisser, 1970; Ryckman, Martens, Rodda, & Sherman, 1972), it was decided to administer the same measures to 178 men and 204 women registered in introduccory psychology during a class to check the correlation for women.