Multidimensional Health Locus of Control scales: do they measure expectancies about control or desires for control?

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Abstract
The Multidimensional Health Locus of Control (MHLC) scales are widely used to characterize a person's beliefs about control over health outcomes. Past research has raised concern about the possible confounding of desires for control with expectancies about control as measured in the MHLC scales. We examined whether the original MHLC scales were more highly correlated with measures of expectancies about control or desires for control. We then examined whether the psychometric properties of the MHLC scales could be improved by using response options with expectancy anchors rather than agree—disagree anchors. A sample of 237 respondents was constructed from a larger study on health promotion. The 237 cases were randomly assigned to one of two subsamples: a primary subsample of 144 cases and a cross-validation subsample of 93 cases. Analyses were conducted on the primary subsample and then replicated independently on the cross-validation subsample. The findings from both subsamples provided evidence for the validity of the original MHLC scales as a measure of expectancies about control. We also found that an expectancy version of the MHLC scales demonstrated higher internal consistency than the original MHLC scales. Future research directions and practical suggestions for using the original MHLC scales are presented.

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