Development and validation of the multidimensional adolescent smoking locus of control scales

The purpose of the proposed study is the development and validation of the Multidimensional Adolescent Smoking Locus of Control Scales. Guided primarily by the work of Rotter and Wallston and Wallston, scale items were developed to tap beliefs that the source of reinforcements for adolescent smoking behavior is primarily internal, a matter of chance or under the control of powerful others. The items were included as part of a questionnaire used in a large school-based adolescent health promotion project. Participants in the study included 739 students in both junior and senior high schools. Results indicate that adequate estimates of reliability were achieved with the new scales, there was support for the construct validity of the scales, and locus of control beliefs, as measured by these issue-specific scales, did serve to moderate the relationship between variables in an explanatory model.