Assessing the Sustained Effects of a Stress Management Intervention on Anxiety and Locus of Control

Abstract

The article discusses a study which investigated the extent to which locus of control and anxiety level can be modified by a stress management intervention. This study intended to provide additional support to the efficacy of short term, cognitive-behavior intervention programs for anxiety reduction. The sustaining effects of such interventions during real-life stressful events were demonstrated. The experimental treatment failed to promote significant increases in internality (locus of control). The intervention was designed to enhance the subjects' expectations of control over their lives and responses to life events that they perceived as threatening. It failed to influence the more enduring aspects of individual beliefs about control over reinforcers of life events.