A test of the relationship between health locus of control and the course of multiple sclerosis
Abstract
This study explored the relationship between health locus of control and the trajectory of multiple sclerosis. A random sample of 100 respondents with multiple sclerosis was selected from the membership list of a state multiple sclerosis support group. The subjects were interviewed in their homes and completed study instruments. Respondents with an internal health locus of control orientation had more knowledge of their disease, practiced more self-care, and had a more benign course of multiple sclerosis than those with an external locus of control. Additional findings included an overall lower divorce rate for the respondents as well as a poor employment outlook.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
An internal locus of control is associated with a milder MS course, greater MS knowledge, and more health behaviors than an external locus of control.
“More specifically, individuals with an internal LOC were found to have a milder course, were more knowledgeable regarding their MS, and engaged in more health-related behaviors or self-care than those with an external oriented LOC.45”
From Quality of life and psychological well-being in the early stages of multiple sclerosis (MS): importance of adopting a biopsychosocial model (2018) · cites this paper as [45]
Cites
Rotter, J. B. (1975) · Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1037/h0076301 · Cited by 1,731 · see citing works
Intensive Immunosuppression in Progressive Multiple Sclerosis
Hauser, S. L., Dawson, D. M., Lehrich, J. R., Beal, M. F., Kevy, S. V., Propper, R. D., Mills, J. L., & Weiner, H. L. (1983) · New England Journal of Medicine · doi:10.1056/nejm198301273080401 · Cited by 829 · see citing works
On the evaluation of disability in multiple sclerosis
Kurtzke, J. F. (1961) · Neurology · doi:10.1212/wnl.11.8.686 · Cited by 330 · see citing works
A New Scale for Evaluating Disability in Multiple Sclerosis
Kurtzke, J. F. (1955) · Neurology · doi:10.1212/wnl.5.8.580 · Cited by 300 · see citing works
Health-related information seeking as a function of health-related locus of control and health value
Wallston, K. A., Maides, S. A., & Wallston, B. S. (1976) · Journal of Research in Personality · doi:10.1016/0092-6566(76)90074-x · Cited by 222 · see citing works
Studies on the natural history of multiple sclerosis—8
Kurtzke, J. F., Beebe, G. W., Nagler, B., Kurland, L. T., & Auth, T. L. (1977) · Journal of Chronic Diseases · doi:10.1016/0021-9681(77)90010-8 · Cited by 165 · see citing works
Changes in locus of control as a function of life crisis resolution.
Smith, R. E. (1970) · Journal of Abnormal Psychology · doi:10.1037/h0029336 · Cited by 88 · see citing works
Abella, R., & Heslin, R. (1984) · Basic and Applied Social Psychology · doi:10.1207/s15324834basp0504_3 · Cited by 52 · see citing works
An Assessment and Nursing Application of the Concept of Locus of Control
Arakelian, M. (1980) · Advances in Nursing Science · doi:10.1097/00012272-198010000-00005 · Cited by 50 · see citing works
Perceptions of control and health beliefs.
Kirscht, J. P. (1972) · Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science/Revue canadienne des sciences du comportement · doi:10.1037/h0082308 · Cited by 46 · see citing works
Lipp, L., Kolstoe, R. H., & James, W. (1968) · Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1037/h0025453 · Cited by 45 · see citing works
ACUTE MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION: REACTION AND RECOVERY
Cohn, J. N. (1978) · CHEST Journal · doi:10.1016/s0012-3692(16)39484-3 · Cited by 40 · see citing works
Locus of control, relative discontent and hypertension
Naditch, M. P. (1974) · Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology · doi:10.1007/bf00589176 · Cited by 37 · see citing works
Social learning predictors of the avoidance of smoking relapse
Wojcik, J. V. (1988) · Addictive Behaviors · doi:10.1016/0306-4603(88)90008-1 · Cited by 27 · see citing works
Personality factors and change with multiple sclerosis.
Halligan, F. R., & Reznikoff, M. (1985) · Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1037//0022-006x.53.4.547 · Cited by 15 · see citing works
Locus of control in two samples of chronic drug abusers.
Smithyman, S. D., Plant, W. T., & Southern, M. L. (1974) · PubMed · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Personality factors and change with multiple sclerosis.
Halligan, F. R., & Reznikoff, M. (1985) · Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-006x.53.4.547 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
Conformity in gamma and delta alcoholics.
Brown, R. A. (1977) · Journal of Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1002/1097-4679(197707)33:3 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Slater, R. J., & Yearwood, A. C. (1980) · AJN American Journal of Nursing · doi:10.1097/00000446-198002000-00030 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Psychosocial recovery from a cardiac event: The influence of perceived control
Moser, D. K., & Dracup, K. (1995) · Heart & Lung · doi:10.1016/s0147-9563(05)80070-6 · Cited by 215 · see citing works
Longitudinal assessment of anxiety, depression, and fatigue in people with multiple sclerosis.
Brown, R. F., Valpiani, E. M., Tennant, C. C., Dunn, S. M., Sharrock, M., Hodgkinson, S., & Pollard, J. D. (2009) · Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice · doi:10.1348/147608308x345614 · Cited by 150 · see citing works
Employment status in multiple sclerosis: impact of disease-specific and non-disease-specific factors
Krause, I., Kern, S., Horntrich, A., & Ziemssen, T. (2013) · Multiple Sclerosis Journal · doi:10.1177/1352458513485655 · Cited by 121 · see citing works
Strober, L. B. (2018) · Disability and health journal · doi:10.1016/j.dhjo.2018.05.003 · Cited by 99 · see citing works
Brown, R. F., Tennant, C. C., Sharrock, M., Hodgkinson, S. J., Dunn, S. M., & Pollard, J. D. (2006) · Multiple Sclerosis Journal · doi:10.1191/1352458506ms1296oa · Cited by 76 · see citing works
Factors affecting anxiety in multiple sclerosis
Garfield, A., & Lincoln, N. (2012) · Disability and Rehabilitation · doi:10.3109/09638288.2012.667503 · Cited by 83 · see citing works
The Effects of Stressful Life Events on the Course of Multiple Sclerosis: A Review
Mitsonis, C., Potagas, C. M., Zervas, I. M., & Sfagos, K. (2009) · International Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1080/00207450802480192 · Cited by 73 · see citing works
How does exercise influence fatigue in people with multiple sclerosis?
Smith, C., Hale, L. A., Olson, K. L., & Schneiders, A. G. (2008) · Disability and Rehabilitation · doi:10.1080/09638280802273473 · Cited by 58 · see citing works
Rural and urban breast cancer patients: health locus of control and psychological adjustment
Bettencourt, B. A., Talley, A. E., Molix, L. A., Schlegel, R. J., & Westgate, S. J. (2007) · Psycho-Oncology · doi:10.1002/pon.1315 · Cited by 56 · see citing works
Eccles, F. J. R., & Simpson, J. (2010) · Disability and Rehabilitation · doi:10.3109/09638288.2010.525287 · Cited by 51 · see citing works
Schwartz, C. E., & Fox, B. H. (1995) · Social Science & Medicine · doi:10.1016/0277-9536(94)e0092-7 · Cited by 49 · see citing works
Brown, R. F., Tennant, C. C., Dunn, S. M., & Pollard, J. D. (2005) · Multiple Sclerosis Journal · doi:10.1191/1352458505ms1170oa · Cited by 44 · see citing works
Psychological factors associated with self‐management in multiple sclerosis
Wilski, M., Kocur, P., Brola, W., & Tasiemski, T. (2020) · Acta Neurologica Scandinavica · doi:10.1111/ane.13236 · Cited by 36 · see citing works
Relation between anxiety, depression and locus of control of patients with multiple sclerosis
Vuger-Kovačić, D., Gregurek, R., Kovačić, D., Vuger, T., & Kalenić, B. (2007) · Multiple Sclerosis Journal · doi:10.1177/1352458507077629 · Cited by 36 · see citing works
Learning from unreliability: the importance of inconsistency in coping dynamics
Schwartz, C. E., & Daltroy, L. H. (1999) · Social Science & Medicine · doi:10.1016/s0277-9536(98)00353-0 · Cited by 33 · see citing works
Patient perception of quality of care provided by specialists and generalists
Schwartz, C. E., Brotman, S., LaRocca, N. G., & Lee, H. (1998) · Multiple Sclerosis Journal · doi:10.1177/135245859800400505 · Cited by 31 · see citing works
Some correlates of health locus of control among multicultural individuals
Vandervoort, D. J., Luis, P. K., & Hamilton, S. E. (1997) · Current Psychology · doi:10.1007/s12144-997-1022-z · Cited by 29 · see citing works
How Fatigue Influences Exercise Participation in Men With Multiple Sclerosis
Smith, C., Fitzgerald, H., & Whitehead, L. (2014) · Qualitative Health Research · doi:10.1177/1049732314551989 · Cited by 24 · see citing works
Bragazzi, N. L. (2013) · Multiple Sclerosis International · doi:10.1155/2013/972471 · Cited by 23 · see citing works
Locus of Control Among Black and White Women with Breast Cancer
Bourjolly, J. N. (1999) · Journal of Psychosocial Oncology · doi:10.1300/j077v17n01_02 · Cited by 23 · see citing works
McGinley, M., Cola, P. A., Fox, R. J., Cohen, J. A., Corboy, J. R., & Miller, D. M. (2019) · Multiple Sclerosis Journal · doi:10.1177/1352458519867314 · Cited by 22 · see citing works
Chen, M. A., Eisenberg, M. S., & Meischke, H. W. (2002) · Heart & Lung · doi:10.1067/mhl.2002.124344 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
Rehabilitation in multiple sclerosis: the potential nursing contribution
Nolan, M., & Nolan, J. (1997) · British Journal of Nursing · doi:10.12968/bjon.1997.6.22.1292 · Cited by 15 · see citing works
Winstead‐Fry, P., Green-Hernandez, C., Colgan, G. M., Cook, C. M., DeSalva, K. L., LaBelle, E., & Perry, E. E. (1999) · Cancer Nursing · doi:10.1097/00002820-199912000-00009 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
Internal Versus External Frame of Reference in Functional Movement Disorders
Vizcarra, J. A., Hacker, S., Lopez‐Castellanos, J. R., Ryes, L., Laub, H. N., Marsili, L., Dwivedi, A. K., LaFaver, K., & Espay, A. J. (2019) · Journal of Neuropsychiatry · doi:10.1176/appi.neuropsych.18110290 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
Thompson, S. (1996) · Disability and Rehabilitation · doi:10.3109/09638289609165893 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
Psychological aspects of physical disability
Wilkinson, S. (1995) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-1-4899-3226-6_12 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Rehabilitation in multiple sclerosis: the potential nursing contribution
Nolan, M., & Nolan, J. (1998) · British Journal of Therapy and Rehabilitation · doi:10.12968/bjtr.1998.5.7.14063 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
An Overview of Psychometric Assessment
Friedberg, F. (1999) · Journal of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome · doi:10.1300/j092v05n03_14 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Rothman, I., Tennant, A., Mills, R. J., & Young, C. A. (2025) · Sclerosis · doi:10.3390/sclerosis3020010 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Self-Regulation in Multiple Sclerosis: The Role of Illness Cognitions and Coping in Adjustment.
Fergusson-White, C. A. J. (2008) · Stirling Online Research Repository (University of Stirling) · Cited by 1 · see citing works
- Authors
- Wassem, R.
- Affiliations
- University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee (US)
- Corresponding author
- Wassem, Rebecca
- Venue
- Rehabilitation Nursing
- Published
- 1991-07
- Volume
- 16
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 189-193
- ISSN
- 0278-4807 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W1990440787
- Cited by
- 32
- References
- 19
- Citations by year
- 2025: 1 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 1 · 2014: 1 · 2013: 2 · 2012: 1
- FWCI
- 0.00
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Rehabilitation Nursing (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pathology and Forensic Medicine › Multiple Sclerosis Research Studies
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Health and Wellbeing Research
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › Pharmacy › Nursing care and research
- Keywords
- health locus of control, multiple sclerosis, clinical course, internal locus of control, external locus of control, disease knowledge, self-care, divorce, employment outlook, patient self-management
- MeSH terms
- Activities of Daily Living, Adaptation, Psychological, Education, Nursing, Continuing, Humans, Internal-External Control, Middle Aged, Multiple Sclerosis, Surveys and Questionnaires, Rehabilitation, Self Care
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
