Development and Validation of the Child Improvement Locus of Control (CILC) Scales

Two studies were conducted to develop and validate the Child Improvement Locus of Control (CILC) scales. In Study 1, 145 parents of autistic children completed a questionnaire tapping beliefs about their children's improvement. Oblique factor analysis yielded five scales assessing parents' beliefs in (1) Chance, (2) Divine Influence, (3) Parent, i4) Professional, and (5) Child as factors influencing child improvement. Alphas for the five scales were generally acceptable, with only the Chance scale (α = .58) failing to demonstrate adequate internal consistency. Correlations with the Multidimensional Health Locus of Control Scales suggested good construct validity. In Study 2, 175 parents of physically ill children were given the CILC items. Factor analysis perfectly replicated the five factors in Study 1. Alphas ranged from .69 to .80. The following relationships, offering further evidence of construct validity, were observed: (1) Parental beliefs in Child influence increased with child age; (2) belief in external factors (Chance and Divine Influence) was greater among black parents; and (3) belief in Parent influence decreased with illness severity.