Can having internal locus of control insure against negative shocks? Psychological evidence from panel data

Hielke Buddelmeyer and Nattavudh Powdthavee

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: We investigate whether the intensity of emotional pain following a negative shock is different across the distribution of a person's locus of control – the extent to which individuals believe that their actions can influence future outcomes. Using panel data from Australia, we show that individuals with strong internal locus of control are psychologically insured against own and others’ serious illness or injury, close family member detained in jail, becoming a victim of property crime and death of a close friend, but not against the majority of other life events. The buffering effects vary across gender. Our findings thus add to the existing literature on the benefits of internal locus of control.

Keywords: locus of control; resilience; well-being; happiness; HILDA (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I19 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015-12-24
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cbe, nep-hap, nep-hpe and nep-neu
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Published in Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 24, December, 2015, 122, pp. 88-109. ISSN: 0167-2681

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http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/66190/ Open access version. (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Can having internal locus of control insure against negative shocks? Psychological evidence from panel data (2016)
Working Paper: Can Having Internal Locus of Control Insure against Negative Shocks? Psychological Evidence from Panel Data (2015)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ehl:lserod:66190

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