Impact of Area of Residence on Locus of Control and Anxiety among Junior College Students

Abstract

This study investigates the impact of the area of residence on the locus of control and anxiety levels among Junior College students. A sample of 100 students from Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar city, comprising 50 Urban and 50 Rural Junior College students, was selected using purposive non-probability sampling. The Locus of Control Scale (Rotter, 1985) and Sinha’s Comprehensive Anxiety Test (SCAT-SS) were administered to assess the students’ locus of control and anxiety levels. The findings indicate that Urban Junior College students exhibit a significantly higher external locus of control (mean = 17.69) compared to their Rural counterparts (mean = 13.15), with a t-value of 5.83 (p < 0.01). On the other hand, Rural students show significantly higher anxiety levels (mean = 26.26) than Urban students (mean = 19.58), with a t-value of 5.05 (p < 0.01). These results suggest that Urban students tend to attribute success and failure to external factors, while Rural students experience higher levels of anxiety. The implications of these findings are discussed in the context of educational psychology and mental health interventions for students based on their area of residence.