The study examined the effects of gender and locus of control on psychological wellbeing of distance learning students.
It geared towards exploring some
predicting variables of gender and locus control on psychology wellbeing
among distance learning universities in Nigeria. 500 distance learning
students from university of Ibadan, which comprises of 250 males and 250
females from different faculty completed the questionnaire pack of
Rotter’s Locus of Control Scale, and Ryff’s Psychological Wellbeing
Scale. Results showed that psychology wellbeing and gender use are
positively and insignificantly related (r=0.53; p>0.05); psychology
wellbeing and locus of control use are positively and significantly
related (r=0.22; p<0.05); psychology wellbeing and gender/locus of
control use are positively and significantly related.
Findings were discussed and relevant recommendations were made for further studies.
1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
Locus of control is a personality
construct developed by Julian B. Rotter in 1966, which refers to an
individual’s perception of the locus of events as determined internally
by his or her behaviour versus fate, luck or external circumstances
(Ziegler, 2006). It is a belief about whether the outcomes of
individual’s action are contingent on what we do or on events outside
our personal control. Locus of control is equally the degree to which
individuals believe that things that happen to them are due to internal
versus external factors. These beliefs are rooted in individual’s
actions and behavior.
Locus of control plays a major role in
one’s perception of situation and possible reactions on what is
happening or should be happening. This has the ability of influencing
one’s reactions to situations that are considered unacceptable.
Individuals with internal locus of control believe that they can
influence the outcomes of their lives. They also attribute their
achievements in life to their skills, abilities and knowledge. They take
pride in good outcomes and feel disappointed in bad outcomes (Bassey
& Ezeh, 2005). A person with dominant external locus of control is
convinced that anything that happens is the result of fate, luck or
external powers and these believe often cause feelings of anger,
frustration, depression and aggression (Swart, 2004).
Psychological wellbeing refers to how
life goes for a particular person. It is a cognitive judgmental process
which gives an evaluation of a person’s life satisfaction according to
his chosen criteria (Shin, 2012). This judgment of how satisfied an
individual is with his state of affairs is based on comparison with a
standard he sets for himself (Diener, 1984).
The ability of a student to successfully
transform his learning to strength to achieve this intention and have
an improved quality of life is dependent on his resolution and his
ability to adopt a system that harmonizes a relationship between his
internal and external self and environment facilities that are made
available within his learning context. In other words, it is germane
that the learner should be accustomed to factors that could hinder such
achievement and make conscious effort to effectively blend them to his
advantage despite the challenges that he may encounter in his quest to
do so because the extent to which a learner succeeds in his academics
has important implications on his psychological success. (Bouchey, etal
Scholars like Nevetuah (2008) opined
that although everyone has an opinion about their psychological
wellbeing but no one knows precisely what it means in general. In
consonance with this, Shin (2012) added that this individualistic
opinion of psychological wellbeing might even be an “idiosyncratic
mysteries” which is conditioned in levels of variability in individuals.
The concept was further corroborated by Lawton (1990), as involving a
multi-dimensional evaluation of both intrapersonal and social normative
criteria of an individual in the past, current and anticipated which he
concluded is ultimately decided by his objective and subjective
dimensions of his psychological well-being.
Early researchers inferred the
psychological wellbeing of individuals through objective and subjective
indicators with specific socially desirable responses to assess living
conditions which may be in respect of the percentage of the unemployed
labour force and crime rates. It may also be in terms of material
well-being, health, productivity, intimacy, safety and emotional
wellbeing. These indicators are satisfaction weighted by their
importance to the individuals and also normative to a population or
group (Cummins, 1997). Thus, where one individual may access his life as
a whole by focusing on his employment status, another individual may
focus his assessment on his relationships with family and friends.
The position of Cummins (1997) was
supported by Bouchey, etal (2010) who proposed that the individual
conceptualization of the psychological wellbeing depends on subjective
evaluation, functional expression and emotional evaluation. Further
related contributions by Swart (2004) who added as basic material needs
are met, individuals move to a materialistic phase in which they are
concerned with self-fulfillment and more attainment and concluded that
psychological wellbeing should be considered on the basis of positive
indicators like “ a basic satisfaction with oneself and one’s existence
or life satisfaction”.
1.2 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM
For long, attention of researchers,
psychotherapist, psychologists, clinicians and social workers have
focused more on psychological wellbeing of individuals thereby paying
less attention to its vital definite determinants such as locus of
control and gender-related factors. This has however created a big
service information gap on the psychological wellbeing experienced by
individuals most especially students. However, very few researchers have
evaluated the effect of gender and locus of control as predictors of
psychological wellbeing of individuals. This problem necessitates the
need for the study.
1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The objectives of the study are:
- To examine the effect of gender on the psychological wellbeing of distance learning students.
- To examine the relationship between locus of control and psychological wellbeing of distance learning students.
- To examine the main and independent effect of gender and locus of
control on the psychological wellbeing of distance learning students.
1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
The study attempts to provide satisfactory answers to the following research questions.
- What is the effect of gender on the psychological wellbeing of distance learning students?
- What is the nature of the relationship between locus of control and psychological wellbeing of distance learning students?
- What are the main and independent effect of gender and locus of
control on psychological wellbeing of distance learning students?
1.5 RESEARCH HYPOTHESES
Three (3) hypotheses were formulated based in the study based on the research questions.
- H0: Gender has no significant effect on the psychology wellbeing of distance learning students.
H1: Gender has significant effect on the psychology wellbeing of distance learning students. .
- H0: There is no significant relationship between locus of control and psychological wellbeing of distance learning students.
H1: There is significant relationship between locus of control and psychological wellbeing of distance learning students.
- H0: Gender and locus of control have no main and independent effect on the psychological wellbeing of distance learning students.
H1: Gender and locus of
control have no main and independent effect on the psychological
wellbeing of distance learning students.
1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
It is believed that this study will be
of immense benefits to students, clinicians, psychologists,
sociologists, medical practitioners and future researchers. The study
through its findings will adequately improve the mental capability,
cognitive development and psychological wellbeing of the students which
will further lead to improvement in all facets of their life.
1.7 SCOPE OF THE STUDY
The study is delineated to examine the
effect of gender and locus of control on the psychological wellbeing of
distance learning students with strong emphasis on distance learning
students in the University of Ibadan.
1.8 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY
During the course of carrying out the study, several limitations were encountered:
Financial Constraint: Due to the paucity of funds, the study covered only distance learning students in the University of Ibadan.
Time Constraint: A
relatively short time was given to conduct a study of this magnitude in
addition to other academic commitment of the researcher.
Unwillingness of the Respondents:
Majority of the respondents were unwillingly to participate in the
survey because they feel that is an intrusion to their personal life.
Nevertheless, a robust and fact-finding study was carried out.
The study adopted the survey research
design in conjunction with the purposive sampling technique to select
500 (Males =50; Female=50) distance learning students in the University
of Ibadan. Two research instruments- the Rotter’s Locus of Control Scale
and the Ryff’s Psychological Wellbeing Scale, were used to generate
data from the respondents.
Furthermore, descriptive statistics
analysis, Pearson product correlation technique, the analysis of the
variance, and multiple regression analysis were employed to test the
The study was premised on the axiom that
- All respondents selected are distance learning students in the University of Ibadan.
- All the information obtained from the respondents is true, accurate and genuine.
1.11 DEFINITON OF TERMS
Gender: The biological sex of an individual usually male or female.
Locus of Control: This
refers to the degree to which people believe that they have control
over the outcome of events in their lives, as opposed to external forces
beyond their control.
Psychological Wellbeing: It
is the combination of positive affective states such as happiness and
functioning with optimal effectiveness in social and individual life.
People with high psychological wellbeing feel happy, well supported and
are satisfied with life.