Taking charge: Perceptions of control over life chances

Most people have moments when they feel that their lives are going along as planned, while at other times nothing seems to go right. In these situations, they might feel in complete command of the paths they follow, and view their achievements – or even their failures – as the result of their own efforts and abilities. Alternatively, they might feel that certain aspects of life are beyond their control, and that fate, destiny, luck or a higher power play an important role in how their lives unfold. The concept of mastery refers to an individual’s perception that she has control over her own life. A person’s response to events can be influenced by many factors that affect his assessment of his own role in society as well as his future outcomes. Of course, there are larger situations at the national or international level which are beyond the realm of individual control, such as business cycles in the economy or natural disasters. However, people with high levels of perceived control are “effective forces in their own lives”1, and are likely “to accumulate resources and to develop sk i l ls and habits that prevent avoidable problems and reduce the impact of unavoidable problems. ”2 This, in turn, can produce a reciprocal effect between achievements and sense of mastery over life chances which could influence many areas of a person’s life. Using the 2003 General Social Survey (GSS), this paper examines the extent of perceptions of control over life chances for individuals aged 15 and over. The results are based on a sample of about 22,600 people representing over 23 million Canadians. Sense of mastery was determined by asking respondents if they strongly agree, agree, neither agree nor disagree, disagree, or strongly disagree that: • they have little control over the things that happen to them; • there is really no way they can solve some of the problems they have; • there is little they can do to change many of the important things in their lives; • they often feel helpless in dealing with problems of life; • sometimes they feel that they are being pushed around in life; • what happens to them in the future mostly depends on them; • they can do just about anything they really set their mind to. These factors were then combined to form a mastery scale,l ranging in value from 0 to 28, which measures the extent to which individuals believe that their lives are under their own control. Higher scores indicate a greater sense of mastery. Readers should note that it is not possible to identify the realms in which respondents felt they controlled their lives. Perceptions of control could be context-specific in that people might feel in control of certain areas of their lives, but not others. For example, someone might feel powerless when faced with a health problem, but still believe that they can achieve their desired education, marriage or family goals. Life satisfaction was measured as respondents’ satisfaction with their lives as a whole on a ten-point scale ranging from a score of 0 (“very dissatisfied”) to 10 (“very satisfied”). A statistical model was developed in order to examine the influence of a number of characteristics on the sense of personal control. These characteristics included: age, sex, household language, immigration status, region of residence, marital status, number of close friends and relatives, education, main activity, occupation, household income, group membership, volunteer status, religiosity, life satisfaction, perceived health status, and happiness.