Locus of control and the attribution for poverty: Comparing Lebanese and South African university students

• Ramzi Nasser

  Notre Dame University

• Kamal Abouchedid

  Notre Dame University

The attitudes of a sample of 443 Lebanese and South African college students towards the causes of poverty as measured by their locus of control and sociodemographic background were studied. Cross-national differences and personality style constructs of external and internal locus of control were used in a multivariate analysis of covariance design. No significant interaction differences appeared between  national status and locus of control, which gave no support to the main hypothesis of this study that  respondents from individualistic cultures (South Africa) have internal locus of control and make more  individualistic attributions of poverty. Lebanese students were more structuralistic, and had more external than internal locus of control than South Africans. The independent variable of class did not appear as a  predictor to the structural attribution for poverty. Hence, university education may be the most important  factor in the attributions of poverty. Conceptualization in the design as to how individuals see poverty  outside their immediate environment and how this can affect the formation of their poverty attitudes are  suggested as areas for further research.

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