External Control Expectancies among Disadvantaged Children at Preschool Age

STEPHENS, MARK W., and DELYS, PAMELA. External Control Expectancies among Disadvantaged Children at Preschool Age. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1973, 44, 670-674. Internal-external control (IE) expectancies of disadvantaged preschool children in Head Start classes were compared with those of middle-class children in 1 Montessori and 2 parent cooperative nursery schools using the Stephens-Delys Reinforcement Contingency Interview (SDRCI) IE measure. There were 55 Head Start (1 white group and 1 black group), 16 Montessori, and 34 parent cooperative nursery school children. The middle-class groups had significantly higher internal control scores than did the Head Start groups but did not differ from each other, and the black and white Head Start groups did not differ significantly from one another. The external control expectancies of both black and white disadvantaged children do, then, precede their school attendance.