The Validity of Locus of Control Dimensions for Chicano Populations

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 of control findings involving Chicano populations may be due to methodological inadequacies, the purpose of the present study was to empirically determine the appropriateness of 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) 1-E scale separately, and then comparing the corresponding factor pairs by using Cliff's (1966) congruence procedure. The luck/fate and leadership/success factors show substantial invariance across the two samples, whereas the cultural equivalence of the remaining three factors is somewhat questionable. The findings are discussed in relation to current knowledge of cross-cultural differences between Anglo and Chicano populations.