Abstract
The Multidimensional Health Locus of Control (MHLC) scales have been widely used as a measurement of health beliefs in child populations.
Studies were conducted with healthy and chronic physically ill children aged 10-12 (primary school, 4th-6th grade) and 13-15 (junior high school, 1st-3rd grade) to develop an instrument to measure childrens's health locus of control.
An eight week study provided evidence that the MHLC has acceptable levels of reliability, (test-retest reliability, r=.74), internal consistency, (coefficient a ranging from.73 to.78) and construct validity.
Item analysis and factor analysis were performed to determine item effectiveness and existence of significant subscales.
The main results concerning validity were as follows: Health behavior of healthy children was positively correlated with internal factors.
Self-report with self-care behavior of children with bronchial asthma was positively correlated with internal factors.
The results were discussed in reference to previous studies.
