LOCUS OF CONTROL PERCEPTIONS AMONG CONJUGALLY BEREAVED OLDER ADULTS -A PILOT-STUDY

While Locus of Control is typically operationalized as a single dispos itional trait that generalizes across settings, it has also been conce ptualized as two weakly related factors; Domain-Specific State Locus o f Control and a generalized Trait Locus of Control. Malleability of th ese two factors was tested for recently widowed older adults in self-h elp support groups (n = 17) and a waiting-list control condition (n = 6). Domain-Specific State Locus of Control-Desire for Control subscale increased over the course of the three-week six-session intervention for support group participants. These group participants also showed d ecreased psychological distress from pre to post intervention. The cha nge in Domain-Specific State Locus of Control-Desire for Control did n ot relate to this reduction in distress. As expected, Trait Locus of C ontrol remained stable with greater Trait Internality related to less psychological symptomatology.