The sensitivity of locus of control to life events and implications for its moderating influence on wellbeing
Abstract A growing literature examines the importance of non-cognitive skills (psychological traits) in determining success across many facets of life, as well as their role in moderating the impact of life events on socioeconomic outcomes. While an extensive literature in psychology has found that...
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| Format: | Article |
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Nature Portfolio
2025-08-01
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| Series: | Scientific Reports |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-13930-3 |
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| author | Steven Stillman Malathi Velamuri |
| author_facet | Steven Stillman Malathi Velamuri |
| author_sort | Steven Stillman |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract A growing literature examines the importance of non-cognitive skills (psychological traits) in determining success across many facets of life, as well as their role in moderating the impact of life events on socioeconomic outcomes. While an extensive literature in psychology has found that these skills are mutable over the life course, several papers in the economics literature continue to treat these traits as exogenous to life events for adult populations. Using longitudinal data that measures locus of control (LoC) every 4 years, we show that a subset of life events has large effects on LoC for adults and that some effects persist over several years. We then demonstrate that treating LoC as exogenous to life events can lead to misleading inference when examining its role as a moderator of the impact of life events on socioeconomic outcomes. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-6181aa86ab534afa96822a09c7e1e0f0 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2045-2322 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-08-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Scientific Reports |
| spelling | doaj-art-6181aa86ab534afa96822a09c7e1e0f02025-08-20T04:02:56ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222025-08-0115111110.1038/s41598-025-13930-3The sensitivity of locus of control to life events and implications for its moderating influence on wellbeingSteven Stillman0Malathi Velamuri1Free University of BozenEconomics consultantAbstract A growing literature examines the importance of non-cognitive skills (psychological traits) in determining success across many facets of life, as well as their role in moderating the impact of life events on socioeconomic outcomes. While an extensive literature in psychology has found that these skills are mutable over the life course, several papers in the economics literature continue to treat these traits as exogenous to life events for adult populations. Using longitudinal data that measures locus of control (LoC) every 4 years, we show that a subset of life events has large effects on LoC for adults and that some effects persist over several years. We then demonstrate that treating LoC as exogenous to life events can lead to misleading inference when examining its role as a moderator of the impact of life events on socioeconomic outcomes.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-13930-3Non-cognitive skillsLocus of controlStabilityEndogeneityAdaptation |
| spellingShingle | Steven Stillman Malathi Velamuri The sensitivity of locus of control to life events and implications for its moderating influence on wellbeing Scientific Reports Non-cognitive skills Locus of control Stability Endogeneity Adaptation |
| title | The sensitivity of locus of control to life events and implications for its moderating influence on wellbeing |
| title_full | The sensitivity of locus of control to life events and implications for its moderating influence on wellbeing |
| title_fullStr | The sensitivity of locus of control to life events and implications for its moderating influence on wellbeing |
| title_full_unstemmed | The sensitivity of locus of control to life events and implications for its moderating influence on wellbeing |
| title_short | The sensitivity of locus of control to life events and implications for its moderating influence on wellbeing |
| title_sort | sensitivity of locus of control to life events and implications for its moderating influence on wellbeing |
| topic | Non-cognitive skills Locus of control Stability Endogeneity Adaptation |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-13930-3 |
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