Attribution of Control, Essays, and Early Medical School Experience

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Abstract
The workings of 2 mediating variables, attribution of control and social support, were examined in a nonlinear model of stress research. Measuring the stressfully stimulating experience of being a 1st-yr medical student, it was found that a short instrument assessing locus of control in recent experience displayed stability and sensitivity to change in measuring 2 independent dimensions, internal and external loci of control. An independent variable, writing weekly essays for a faculty member who read them, commented on them supportively, and quickly returned them, interacted with time in producing changes in the student''s attribution of control. The supported (essay) group became less internal and more external while demonstrating a lesser correlation with reported stress, and the nonwriting students augmented their perceptions of internal control but reported more correlated stress and less correlated reward. Miller''s minimax theory of controllability derived from the experimental literature provided an explanation of these findings.

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