An Exploratory Look at Locus of Control, Bullying, and Self-Efficacy

Abstract

Bullying is a problem that reaches its way into schools across the nation. A study done by the U.S. Department of Education reported that 27.8% of students between grade 6 and grade 12 experienced being bullied at school. (National Center for Education Statistics and Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2011). A bully is commonly thought of as an individual being unnecessarily cruel to someone else, usually someone weaker. Locus of control is the extent to which an individual views consequences as either results from their actions or controlled by an outside force. (Rotter, 1954). Self-efficacy is the belief in one’s own capabilities to change outcomes in his/her life (Bandura, 1977). An individual’s perceived self-efficacy likely affects his or her ability to adapt with difficult situations. One hundred forty-five college students enrolled in a Southeastern university, all over the age of 18 and with a history of being bullied, voluntarily participated in this study. The General Self-Efficacy Scale (Schwarzer & Jerusalem, 1995), Rotter’s Locus of Control (Rotter, 1966), and an adapted Bullying Survey (Kingsthorpe College, 2016) were used in this study. The hypothesis for this study was those with an internal locus of control and high self-efficacy will have a shorter duration of childhood and adolescent bullying. While that hypothesis was not supported, a significant positive correlation was found between longer durations of bullying in elementary school and having a current external locus of control.