The Relationship of a Measure of the Fear of Success Construct to Scales Representing the Locus of Control and Sex-Role Orientation Constructs for a Community College Sample

Abstract

For a total sample of 404 day-time community college students (203 females and 201 males) in general education classes and especially for several (32) subgroups differentiated by sex, ethnicity (white, black, Hispanic, or Asian), and/or one of three types of majors (traditional for one's sex, non-traditional for one's sex, or undeclared), an estimate of the concurrent validity of each of two predictor measures representing the locus of control and sex-role orientation constructs was obtained relative to a criterion measure portraying the fear of success construct. The data analyses suggested the following conclusions: (a) the locus of control measure shows promising validity with individuals manifesting a relatively high level of internality in their locus of control demonstrating a relatively low degree of fear of success; (b) irrespective of ethnicity or sex, sex-role orientation is unrelated to fear of success or locus of control; (c) students identified with a major considered traditional to their sex exhibit a preference for a sex-role orientation consistent with their sex; and (d) fear of success appears to be unrelated either to chronological age or to sex.

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