Adaptive Styles or Coping Styles - psychology (cont)

Locus of Control -    To what do I attribute the cause (or control) of an outcome?  Is control internal or external?  Those who attribute outcomes to their own efforts are greater information seekers, highly achievement orientated, resist undue social pressure, engage in greater health enhancing activities, are less anxxious and less likely to be diagnosed as having psychiatric illness.  Locus of Control depends on situations.  Externals are better at adjusting to situations over which they have no real objective control such as elderly in a nursing home.  Those seeking treatment for alcohol abuse sought out others, earlier for help and stayed in AA longer.     Thus to be internal or external may be correlated with certain behaviour patterns whether, orientation -- internal or external -- is better depends on situational factors as well.