Drinking Locus of Control Scale

Abstract

The Drinking Locus of Control Scale (DLCS) is a specialized psychometric instrument designed to measure an individual’s beliefs regarding the extent to which their drinking behavior is controlled by internal factors (personal effort, willpower) versus external factors (circumstances, fate, other people, or irresistible urges). Developed by O’Leary, O’Leary, and Donovan in 1976, the DLCS is crucial for understanding drinking problems and tailoring treatment interventions based on the client’s perceived sense of control, a fundamental aspect of Locus of Control theory.

Keywords

Drinking Locus of Control Scale, DLCS, Locus of Control, Alcohol dependence, Substance abuse, Attribution theory, Psychological assessment, Alcoholism

Authors

O’Leary, R. R., O’Leary, M. R., Donovan, D. M.

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Purpose

The primary purpose of the DLCS is to quantify the cognitive attributions individuals make concerning their alcohol consumption and sobriety maintenance. It aims to differentiate between individuals who believe they possess significant personal control (internal locus) over their drinking habits and those who attribute their drinking to powerful external forces, situational pressures, or physiological helplessness (external locus).

By identifying the predominant locus of control, clinicians and researchers can better predict treatment engagement, relapse potential, and the efficacy of specific therapeutic approaches, such as those emphasizing self-efficacy or skills training versus those focusing on environmental management.

Construct

The DLCS measures the Locus of Control construct specifically within the domain of alcohol use. It operationalizes three distinct dimensions of external control, differentiating it from generalized locus of control measures:

• External-Situational Control: Belief that circumstances, environment, or luck dictate drinking behavior or successful sobriety (e.g., “Trouble at work or home drives me to drink”).
• External-Social Control: Belief that other people or social pressures compel one to drink or prevent sobriety (e.g., “Oftentimes, other people drive one to drink”).
• External-Personal Helplessness: Belief in an overwhelming, internal sense of powerlessness or lack of willpower to resist alcohol cravings or urges (e.g., “I feel powerless to prevent myself from drinking when I am anxious or unhappy”).

A high score on the external dimensions suggests a greater reliance on external factors, potentially indicating reduced motivation for self-directed change, which is critical in treating drinking problems.

Validity

Initial studies establishing the DLCS demonstrated promising evidence of construct and criterion validity. The scale has been shown to correlate significantly with measures of drinking severity and other established psychological inventories, such as the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI).

Specifically, individuals scoring high on external dimensions of the DLCS often exhibit more severe drinking patterns and poorer prognoses in treatment settings. Furthermore, the DLCS demonstrates discriminant validity by showing low correlations with measures of generalized locus of control, indicating that it measures a domain-specific attribution rather than a global personality trait.

Reliability

The DLCS exhibits acceptable levels of reliability, particularly concerning internal consistency. The original developers reported high internal consistency (measured by Cronbach’s alpha) for the overall scale and its primary subscales, suggesting that the items within each factor consistently measure the same underlying construct.

Test-retest reliability has generally been found to be moderate to high over short intervals, indicating the stability of the locus of control beliefs regarding drinking behavior, especially among populations actively seeking treatment or maintaining abstinence.

Factor Analysis

The original Factor Analysis conducted during the scale’s development identified a multi-factor structure, supporting the theoretical distinction between various forms of external attribution. While the specific number of factors may vary slightly across different populations and validation studies, the core structure typically confirms the existence of the three primary external dimensions: Situational, Social, and Personal Helplessness.

These distinct factors allow for a nuanced understanding of why an individual attributes their lack of sobriety control externally, which is more informative than a single, monolithic external score. The factor structure has generally proven robust across diverse samples of individuals with alcohol use disorders.

Instrument

Test Type: Psychological assessment, Self-report inventory

Format: 25 items, typically using a Likert-type response scale (e.g., strong agreement to strong disagreement).

Language Available: Primarily English; translations may exist in academic literature.

Population Group: Clinical and non-clinical populations, particularly individuals with alcohol dependence or problem drinking.

Age Group: Adults (18+).

Population Details: Originally validated on inpatient and outpatient populations undergoing treatment for alcoholism.

Test Methodology: Respondents rate the extent to which they agree with statements reflecting external or internal control over their drinking behavior. Scores are calculated for the overall scale and for key external subscales, with higher scores indicating a greater external locus of control.

Keywords

External attribution, Internal control, Problem drinking, Psychometrics, Self-efficacy, Alcohol use disorder, DLCS

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Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not uniformly available or specified in original publication.

Affiliation Email addresses: Not specified.

Correspondence Address: Not specified.

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The scale was first published in 1976. Permissions are generally governed by standard academic use guidelines, though commercial use may require permission from the original authors or publishers, depending on the context of use.

Reference’s

• O’Leary, M. R., O’Leary, R. R., & Donovan, D. M. (1976). The development of a drinking locus of control scale. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 37(5), 672-676. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/672216
• Donovan, D. M., & O’Leary, M. R. (1978). The drinking locus of control scale: Reliability, validity and relationship to drinking severity. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 39(1), 161–178.
• The scale is referenced and discussed in various validation studies, such as the one found here: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306460399000520

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Items of the Drinking Locus of Control Scale

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

1. People drink because circumstances force them to
2. Most people do not realize that drinking problems are influenced by accidental happenings
3. I feel so helpless in some situations that I need a drink
4. Trouble at work or home drives me to drink
5. Without the right breaks one cannot stay sober
6. Many times there are circumstances that force you to drink
7. I get so upset over small arguments that they cause me to drink
8. Staying sober depends mainly on things going right for you
9. When I see a bottle‚ I cannot resist taking a drink
10. Oftentimes‚ other people drive one to drink
11. It is impossible for me to resist drinking if I am at a party where others are drinking
12. Those who are successful in quitting drinking are the ones who are just plain lucky
13. I feel powerless to prevent myself from drinking when I am anxious or unhappy
14. I cannot feel good unless I am drinking
15. As far as drinking is concerned‚ most of us are victims of forces we can neither understand nor control
16. I feel completely helpless when it comes to resisting a drink
17. It is impossible for some people to ever stop drinking
18. It is difficult for alcoholics to have much control over their drinking
19. If someone offers me a drink‚ I cannot refuse him
20. Sometimes I cannot understand how people can control their drinking
21. Once I start to drink I can’t stop
22. I just cannot handle my problems unless I take a drink first
23. Most of the time I can’t understand why I continue to drink
24. I have no will power when it comes to drinking
25. Drinking is my favorite form of entertainment