EXPRESSED EMOTION AND LOCUS OF CONTROL

Expressed emotion is a robust and reliable predictor of psychiatric re lapse across a range of psychopathological conditions and diagnoses. T heoretical speculation about the expressed emotion construct has sugge sted that high levels of criticism in relatives might be linked to att ributions and beliefs about the patient's ability to control his or he r symptoms or problem behaviors. Although there is some empirical supp ort for this notion, no study to date has examined relatives' beliefs about their own abilities to control problem situations. This study co mpared high- and low-critical relatives of patients with schizophrenia on a measure of locus of control. Consistent with prediction, the loc us of control scores of high-critical relatives were indicative of a m ore internal locus of control, whereas those of the low-critical relat ives were indicative of a more external locus of control.