Relationship Between Locus of Control With Posttraumatic Growth Among Individuals With Spinal Cord Injury

Introduction: The main purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between Locus of Control (LOC) with Post Traumatic Growth (PTG) among individuals with spinal cord injury.Materials and Methods: This is a cross-sectional study. Two hundred and ninety-one individuals with spinal cord injury were randomly selected as participants. The study variables were measured by posttraumatic growth assessed by the 21-item version of Post Traumatic Growth Inventory Scale (PTGI) and locus of control assessed by the 29-item version of Rotter’s internal-external locus of control scale. The collected data were analyzed with descriptive indexes and analytic tests, including the Levine’s test, independent t test, analysis of variance (ANOVA), Chi-square test, and Pearson test.Results: Descriptive findings showed that the mean (SD) of LOC in the study population was 8.60(4.72) and PTG mean (SD) was 60.8(26.48). The Independent t test showed significant difference in PTGI score between internal and external LOC in the studied population (P 0.001), so that individuals with higher mean scores in PTG had more internal LOC (μ=08.75). Also the Pearson correlation coefficient showed a strong relationship between PTG with LOC (r=0.630, P 0.001).Conclusion: The results suggest that the mean internal LOC scales in spinal cord injured patients with symptoms of PTG is higher. This study found that the LOC in spinal cord injury can affect individuals’ health and result in an increased possibility for PTG.