2.2.3. Perceived Control

Perceived control was measured with a 12-item scale [21], which included items such as: "I can do just about anything I really set my mind to", "When I really want to do something, I usually find a way to succeed at it", "Whether or not I am able to get what I want is in my own hands", "What happens to me in the future mostly depends on me", "Other people determine most of what I can and cannot do", "There is little I can do to change many of the important things in my life", "I often feel helpless in dealing with the problems of life", "What happens in my life is often beyond my control", "There are many things that interfere with what I want to do", "I have little control over the things that happen to me", "There is really no way I can solve all the problems I have" and "I

sometimes feel I am being pushed around in my life" (the last eight items were reverse scored). These items were rated on a 7-point Likert scale (1 = strongly disagree; 7 = strongly agree). The responses were then averaged across the 12 items, with higher scores indicating a higher level of perceived control. Cronbach's alpha in this study was 0.92.
