Locus of control, personal meaning and self-concept before and after an academic critical incident

Change in control beliefs and dimensions of self are investigated in the context of students' first semester university experience. Questionnaires, including Wong's (1998) Personal Meaning Profile, Trice's (1985) Academic Locus of Control, and Marsh's (1992) Self-Description Questionnaire (SDQ) III, were administered to 116 participants before, immediately after, and 1 month after midterm exams to explore longitudinal processing of academic results and overall university transition. Students reported an increase of external academic locus of control scores and overall personal meaning scores regardless if they perceived midterm exam results as successes or failures. As anticipated, findings showed that both academic locus of control and personal meaning were amenable to change in the short term, suggesting that these constructs might fluctuate more than proposed in the literature. Virginia Satir's counselling theory is presented as an overarching model for understanding and applying the study results to both student and campus health research.