Identity Status and Locus of Control: A Meta-Analysis

This investigation examined the relationship between identity status and locus of control through techniques of meta-analysis. Early research has found an association between identity achievement and an internal locus of control and between identity diffusion and an external locus of control. Findings for the relationship between locus of control and the moratorium and foreclosure statuses, however, have been inconsistent. A total of 565 empirical studies of identity status that were conducted between 1966 and 2005 were identified from PsychINFO, ERIC, Sociological Abstracts, and Dissertation Abstracts International using these search terms: “identity status,” “identity and Marcia,” “identity and Marcia's,” and “ego identity.” Nineteen of these studies addressed the relationship between locus of control and identity status; only five of the studies (N = 711 participants) provided data with satisfactory information to be included in the meta-analysis. Internal and external locus of control scales were corr...