Locus of control, academic self-concept, and academic dishonesty among high ability college students

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Anne Rinn
Janette Boazman
Ann Jackson
Brenda Barrio

Abstract

The purposes of the current study were to evaluate a measure of academic dishonesty and examine high ability college students’ loci of control and its effect on behaviors of academic dishonesty, as moderated by academic self-concept. A total of 357 high ability college students enrolled at two universities in the southwestern United States took part in this study. Variables and the moderation of academic self-concept were examined for the aggregate group (n = 357) and for the disaggregate honors and non-honors groups. Students completed the Rotter Internal-External Locus of Control Scale (Rotter, 1966), the Self-Description Questionnaire III (Marsh, 1989), and a scale to measure academic dishonesty based on the work of Geddes (2011). A 17-item measure of academic dishonesty was developed. Results indicate locus of control does not significantly predict academic dishonesty for the non-honors group, but several relationships were found among variables for the aggregate group and for the honors and non-honors groups.

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Rinn, A., Boazman, J., Jackson, A., & Barrio, B. (2014). Locus of control, academic self-concept, and academic dishonesty among high ability college students. Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 14(4), 88–114. https://doi.org/10.14434/v14i4.12770
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