Locus of Control (LOC) refers to an individuals’ belief system regarding the consequences of his or her actions which is based on the convictions that determine the attitude of an individual towards success or failure. Locus of control is an important personality trait known to be associated with various variables including mental health of an individual. The major objective of the present study was to examine the relationship of locus of control with mental health among college students. The sample for the study comprised 400 undergraduate students (aged 17-21 years) from four constituent colleges of Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, Punjab. A Self-structured Locus of Control Questionnaire adapted from Rotter’s Locus of Control Scale (1966) and Levenson’s Multidimensional Locus of Control Scale (1992) was used to assess the Locus of Control and Mental Health Battery by Singh and Gupta (2000) was used to investigate Mental Health of the selected students. Results indicated statistically significant differences in the type of locus of control among the students from various colleges with respondents from College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology leading in internal LOC and those from College of Agriculture as well as College of Community Science superseding in external LOC. Further, a major proportion of the respondents had a medium level of mental health but significant positive contribution of internal locus of control was observed towards over-all adjustment dimension and overall mental health of the respondents. | Locus of control and its relationship with mental health among college students
