Sense of Control

Factor: Power and Autonomy

Age: Adult

Duration: Less than 3 minutes

Reading Level: Less than 6th grade

What

Developed by Lachman and Weaver (1998), the Sense of Control Scale has 12 items that measure a person’s sense of control over her or his life.

Who

A nationally representative survey using the Sense of Control Scale reached US adults from 25 to 75 years old across a range of socioeconomic status backgrounds, including those with less than a high school diploma (Lachman & Weaver, 1998). Researchers have also used the scale with a large sample of White, Black, Asian-American, and Latinx incoming college students (Duffy, 2010).

How

INSTRUCTIONS

Respondents rate how much they agree or disagree with 12 items on a 7-point scale (1 = strongly agree; 7 = strongly disagree). The Personal Mastery subscale includes four items that measure what people feel they can control themselves (e.g., “Whether or not I am able to get what I want is in my own hands”). The Perceived Constraints subscale includes eight items that measure what people feel they cannot control (e.g., “Other people determine most of what I can and cannot do”).

To calculate scores for each subscale, reverse-score each item and calculate the average of all items (Lachman & Weaver, 1998). Using this scoring method, higher scores on the mastery subscale indicate higher levels of perceived mastery, and higher scores on the constraints subscale indicates higher levels of perceived constraints.

To calculate respondents’ overall sense of control, researchers reverse-score items in the personal mastery subscale so that higher scores mean more control, and then calculate the average of the two subscale scores (Lachman & Agrigoroaei, 2010).

RESPONSE FORMAT

1 = strongly agree; 2 = somewhat agree; 3 = a little agree; 4 = neither agree or disagree; 5 = a little disagree; 6 = somewhat disagree; 7 = strongly disagree.

Why It Matters

Researchers have found that people who have a greater sense of control are more satisfied with their lives, less depressed, and healthier (Lachman & Weaver, 1998). In contrast, people with higher constraints report being in fair or poor health (Ward, 2013), and experience more chronic health problems like asthma and migraines (Lachman & Weaver, 1998; Sanders & Spencer, 2005). A longitudinal study found that higher perceived constraints are associated with declines in physical and mental health four years later (Infurna & Mayer, 2015).

People with lower incomes tend to have a lower sense of control and worse health than people with higher incomes (Lachman & Weaver, 1998a). Yet sense of control shapes the relationship between income and health; Americans living on a low income are just as healthy and happy as Americans living on a high income when they feel like they have control over their lives (Lachman & Weaver, 1998).

In a large longitudinal study of American adults, researchers found that higher sense of control predicted slower declines in health and more supportive relationships with romantic partners, family members, and friends over time (Gerstorf, Röcke, & Lachman, 2010). A higher sense of control is also associated with fewer physical limitations, such as difficulty climbing stairs, ten years later (Lachman & Agrigoroaei, 2010). Because physical and mental health shape — and are shaped by — social mobility (Halleröd & Gustafsson, 2011), increasing a person’s sense of control might help support their path out of poverty.

A sense of control might help people adjust to unexpected life changes. One study found that incoming college students who had a greater sense of control thought they could adapt to changes at work and overcome barriers in their careers (Duffy, 2010). Being able to adapt to changes at work might be related to good employment. For instance, one study in the Netherlands found that a training designed to boost recent graduates’ career adaptability increased the likelihood that they had better jobs six months later (Koen, Klehe, & Van Vainen, 2012).

HEADS UP

While research has shown a link between sense of control and positive outcomes in health, wellbeing, relationships, and career adaptability, it has not established whether sense of control causes these outcomes.

References

Duffy, R. D. (2010). Sense of control and career adaptability among undergraduate students. Journal of Career Assessment, 18(4), 420–430.

Gerstorf, D., Röcke, C., & Lachman, M. E. (2010). Antecedent–consequent relations of perceived control to health and social support: Longitudinal evidence for between-domain associations across adulthood. Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 66(1), 61-71.

Halleröd, B., & Gustafsson, J. E. (2011). A longitudinal analysis of the relationship between changes in socio-economic status and changes in health. Social Science & Medicine, 72(1), 116-123.

Infurna, F. J., & Mayer, A. (2015). The effects of constraints and mastery on mental and physical health: Conceptual and methodological considerations. Psychology and Aging, 30(2), 432–448.

Koen, J., Klehe, U-C., Van Vianen, A. E. M. (2012). Training career adaptability to facilitate a successful school-to-work transition. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 81(3), 395-408.

Lachman, M. E., & Agrigoroaei, S. (2010). Promoting functional health in midlife and old age: Long-term protective effects of control Beliefs, social support, and physical exercise. PLoS ONE, 5(10), e13297.

Lachman, M. E., & Weaver, S. L. (1998). The sense of control as a moderator of social class differences in health and well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74(3), 763–773.

Sanders, A., & Spencer, A. (2005). Why do poor adults rate their oral health poorly? Australian Dental Journal, 50(3), 161–167.

Ward, M. M. (2013). Sense of control and self-reported health in a population-based sample of older Americans: Assessment of potential confounding by affect, personality, and social support. International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 20(1), 140–147.