Mothers' locus of control and their hypercholesterolemic children's adherence to an oat bran diet

Correlational research was conducted to determine the relationship between mothers' level of internal locus of control and their hypercholesterolemic school-age children's aderence to an oat bran diet. Rotter's social learning theory and Wallston and Wallston's health locus of control concept provided the framework for the study. Data collection consisted of mothers completing Wallston, Wallston, and Devillis' Multidemensional Health Locus of Control Scale and recording the children's daily consumption of oat bran.

Analysis of the data was done by utilizing Perarson's r and descriptive statistics. A weak positive correlation of no statistical significance was found (r=.08, p=.69) between mothers' internal locus of control and their hypercholesterolemic children's adherence to an oat bran diet. An additional finding of interest was the relationship between powerful other locus of control and dietary compliance almost reaching statistical significance (r = -.405, p = .-6).