Type of Education, Locus of Control and Optimistic – Pessimistic Attitude among Undergraduate College Students

The type of education and locus of control are significant variables in forming optimistic-pessimistic attitude among students. The main aim of the present study, therefore, was to study the effect of type of education and locus of control on optimistic- pessimistic attitude of undergraduate college students. The other objectives were to find out whether arts-commerce and science students differ in their locus of control as well as to examine the relationship between locus of control and optimistic-pessimistic attitude. An incidental (quota) sample of 160 students from different colleges in Islampur and Sangli city was selected for this study, in which 80 students were from arts-commerce faculty and 80 students were from science faculty. Each group comprised 40 male and 40 female students. The age range of students was from 18 to 20 years (M= 18.6 and SD= 0.7yrs). Optimistic-Pessimistic Attitude Scale developed by Parashar (1998) and Locus of Control Scale (LOC Scale) prepared by Singh and Bhardwaj (2010) were used for collecting the information. The data were analyzed by testing the significance of mean difference and calculating coefficient of correlation. The results reveal that, arts-commerce and science students differ significantly on optimistic-pessimistic attitude and locus of control. Science students were more optimistic than arts-commerce students. Also students with internal locus of control were more optimistic than students with external locus of control. Moreover, science students have internal locus of control than arts-commerce students. Furthermore, internal locus of control was positively and significantly correlated with optimistic attitude.