THE IMPACT OF RELIGIOSITY AND LOCUS OF CONTROL
The Impact of Religiosity and Locus of Control on Academic
Achievement in College Students
Stacy Adams
Webster University
Abstract
The relationship between religiosity, academic achievement, and locus of
control was examined through the use of a survey completed by 68 college students. Surveys
contained Strayhorn's (1990) "Religiosity Scale," Rotter's (1966) "Locus of
Control Scale," an academic achievement scale, and a religious attitude scale. A
relationship was found between the academic achievement scale and religious attitude
scale. No relationship was found between locus of control and religiosity using the Rotter
and Strayhorn scales. It is recommended that this study be repeated with a larger sample
size and different professional scales.
The Impact of Religiosity and Locus of Control
on Academic Achievement in College Students
Academic achievement is something that every parent wishes for their
child. However, determining exactly what it is that causes students to achieve is not an
easy task to do. Previous research by Poulson (1998) has indicated that individuals who
have a high level of religiosity are less likely to engage in risky behavior than
individuals who have a low level of religiosity. Students who engage in risky behavior
often do not have the same level of academic achievement as students who don't engage in
risky behavior. This can be due to the fact that when a student engages in risky behavior,
such as drug use, it can affect the time and concentration a student is willing to give to
his or her academic studies.
Religion has also been directly linked to academic achievement. A study by
Oh (1999) found that high school students who had a high level of religiosity were more
likely to have a higher GPA than nonreligious students.
Locus of control has also been the subject of a lot of research. A study
by Murk and Addleman (1992) found that students who had a high level of moral reasoning
were also more likely to have an internal locus of control. Many religious organizations
feel that it is their duty to teach moral values, so one can assume that religious
students are also likely to score high on a moral reasoning scale. Strayhorn (1966) has
found that people who have a high need for achievement, also have a belief in their own
ability or skill to determine the outcome of their efforts.
Someone with an internal locus of control would most likely believe in
working to be a good person so that they can reach a higher spiritual state. This
individual may also believe in studying and working hard in order to get good grades. The
goal of this research is to determine if there is a connection between religiosity,
academic achievement, and locus of control. It is hypothesized that college students who
have a high level of religiosity will also have a high level of academic achievement. It
is also hypothesized that students with high scores of religiosity and academic
achievement will also have a internal locus of control.
Method
Subjects
Subjects were 68 male and female undergraduates, 18-42 years of age. The
mean age of the subjects was 22.12. Five point nine percent of subjects indicated they
were in their first year of college, 19.1% were in their second year, 26.5% were in their
third year, 36.8% were in their fourth year, and 11.8% indicated they had been in college
for five or more years. Subject's religion can be found in Table 1. Subjects were
recruited from seven general education classes.
Procedure
The experimenter contacted professors of general education classes via
email in order to receive permission to distribute a survey to their students. Once
permission was obtained, the experimenter went to the professor's classroom in order to
distribute the survey. Subjects were told that they would be completing a survey that
dealt with the relationship between religiosity, academic achievement, and locus of
control. Subjects filled out "The Religiosity Scale," created by Strayhorn
(1990) and the "Locus of Control Scale," created by Rotter (1966). Subjects also
filled out an academic achievement scale, which contained questions regarding a student's
perceived academic achievement, and a religious attitude scale, which contained questions
regarding satisfaction with religion and religion's impact on daily life (See Appendix).
Professors from four of the classes contacted preferred that students
complete the survey in the class, while three other classes took their surveys home. The
surveys that were taken home were distributed at the end of the subject's class and if
they chose to participate, were picked up at the beginning of the next class period.
Surveys were distributed in envelopes to ensure confidentiality.
Results
In order to assess the relationship between academic achievement,
religiosity, and locus of control, correlations were done on the Strayhorn scale, Rotter
scale, religious attitude scale, and academic achievement scale. Mean scores and standard
deviations of these four scales can be found in Table 2. A significant correlation was
found between the religious attitude scale and the academic achievement scale (r=.26,
p<.05), indicating that students who have high religious attitudes, also have a high
level of academic achievement. However, no relationship was found between locus of control
and religiosity using the Rotter and Strayhorn scales (p=.63, no significance, p<.05),
indicating that religiosity is not directly related to a person's locus of control.
Though the main focus of the study was not supported, there were
relationships found between individual items of the academic achievement scale, religious
attitude scale, and the Strayhorn scale. A correlation was found between believing that
faith influences everyday life and, perception of being a good student, achieving mostly
As and Bs, coming to class prepared, and working hard on assignments. See Table 3. There
was also a significant relationship between age and variables, such as studying for exams
(r=-.31, p<.01), studying the bible (r=.33, p<.01), believing that faith influences
everyday life (r=.26, p<.05), and working hard on assignments (r=-.31, p<-.30).
Finally, praying outside of church was found to have a relationship with
perception of being a good student, achieving grades of mostly As and Bs, coming to class
prepared, working hard on all assignments, and studying for all exams and quizzes. See
Table 4.
Discussion
The present study set out to find a relationship between academic
achievement, religiosity, and locus of control. Previous research indicated that students
who have a high level of academic achievement are more likely to be internally controlled
and have a higher level of religiosity. However, the results of this study did not support
this hypothesis. This most likely had to do with the demographics of the population
surveyed. A total of 36.8 percent of subjects indicated "other" on the religion
question of the survey. This may be due to the fact that sometimes college students no
longer attend church or partake in religious practices when they are away from home
because there is no pressure from family to do so.
One reason why the Strayhorn Scale may not have yielded more significance
is that it is geared more towards the Christian religion, whereas the religious attitude
scale was more universal. Exactly half of the questions on the Strayhorn scale mentioned
God. If an individual was a member of a religion that doesn't believe in God, they might
feel uncomfortable completing the Strayhorn scale.
A possible reason why the variable of age is negatively correlated with
factors such as studying and working hard on assignments may be because as a student's age
increases there is a greater chance that they will have a full time job and/or a family.
These two commitments can take away from time needed to study and prepare for class.
Praying and academic achievement variables are most likely positively
correlated because they both involve being conscientious. In a way, praying can be related
to church the same way that homework is to school. They both involve individual effort in
order to get a better understanding of a larger task at hand. Someone who takes their
religion seriously will most likely pray on their own and someone who takes their
education seriously will study and do their homework
A problem with the study may involve the scales used. When being surveyed,
several students complained out loud that they were dissatisfied with some of the
questions on the Rotter and Strayhorn scales. These complaints in of themselves may have
affected the results of the study because they may have had an affect on how the rest of
the students in the class regarded the survey.
Both the Rotter and Strayhorn scales are popular choices when studying
questions of religiosity and locus of control, but a future study may be better served
with different scales. Also, a larger sample size may provide more conclusive data in
future studies. Other areas of future research to consider would be to look at other
variables that influence academic achievement, such as family.
Though the results of the present study are inconclusive, finding a direct
connection between religiosity, locus of control, and academic achievement could help
researchers better predict what kinds of children will obtain academic achievement. This
kind of information would open the door to different kinds of parenting techniques and
different ways of educating in the future.
References
Murk, D.A. & Addleman, J.A. (1992). Relations among moral reasoning,
locus of control, and demographic variables among college students. Psychological
Reports, 70(2), 467-476.
Oh, D.M. (1999). Evidence on the correlation between religiosity and
social/psychological behavior and the resulting impact on student performance. (High
school students, adolescents). Dissertation Abstracts International Section A:
Humanities & Social Sciences, 59(11-A), 4102.
Poulson, R. L., Eppler, M.A., Satterwhite, T.N., Wuensch, K.L., &
Bass, L.A. (1998). Alcohol consumption, strength of religious beliefs, and risky sexual
behavior in college students. Journal of American College Health, 46(5), 227-232.
Rotter, Julian (1966). Generalized Expectancies For Internal Versus
External Control Of Reinforcement. Psychological Monographs: General and Applied,
80(1), 1-28.
Strayhorn, J.M., Weidman, C.S., & Larson, D. (1990). A Measure of
Religiousness, and Its Relation to Parent and Child Mental Health Variables. Journal of
Community Psychology, 18, 34-43.
Table 1
Religion
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