Is Perceived Self-Efficacy a Universal Construct? Psychometric Findings from 22 Cultures   Ralf Schwarzer & Urte Scholz Freie Universität Berlin, Germany

Perceived Self-Efficacy is the belief that one can perform a novel or difficult task, or cope with adversity -- in various domains of human functioning

Perceived Self-Efficacy FACILITATES: GOAL SETTING EFFORT INVESTMENT PERSISTANCE IN FACE OF BARRIERS RECOVERY FROM SETBACKS

General Perceived Self-Efficacy Scale Ralf Schwarzer & Matthias Jerusalem (1995) Examples: I can always manage to solve difficult problems if I try hard enough. Thanks to my resourcefulness, I know how to handle unforeseen situations. If I am in trouble, I can usually think of a solution. I am confident that I could deal efficiently with unexpected events.

The full 10-item scale can be copied from the web The General Perceived Self-Efficacy Scale Source of the English Version: Schwarzer, R. & Jerusalem, M. (1995). Generalized Self-Efficacy scale. In J. Weinman, S. Wright, & M. Johnston (Eds.), Measures in health psychology: A user’s portfolio. Causal and control beliefs (pp. 35-37). Windsor, UK: NFER-NELSON. The full 10-item scale can be copied from the web http://www.healthpsych.de

The Samples

Frequency Distribution broken down by Nation

Age Distribution

Mean Age per Nation (N = 13,461)

Distribution of Self-Efficacy Sum Scores for the Total Sample

Reliability

Scale Reliabilities (Cronbach’s ) for all Nations

Unidimensionality

General Perceived Self-Efficacy Construct  Unidimensionality of the General Perceived Self-Efficacy Construct GSE SE5 SE4 SE6 SE7 SE2 SE1 SE3 SE9 SE8 SE10 .56 .47 .55 .37 .40 .50 .48 .53 .43 .36 .30 .38 .31 1.00

Group Differences

Mean Sum Scores Broken Down by Nation

Mean Sum Scores Broken Down by Nations and Gender

Validity

Correlations Between Self-Efficacy And Other Constructs   Correlations Between Self-Efficacy And Other Constructs   Self-Efficacy Sum Score of German Teachers (N = 302) Proactive Coping .55 Self-Regulation .58 Procrastination -.56 Emotional Exhaustion -.47 Depersonalisation -.44 Lack of Accomplishment -.75

Correlations Between Self-Efficacy And Other Constructs   Expected Social Support .43 .30   Self-Efficacy Sum Score of Costa Ricans Women (N = 393) Men (N = 258) Anxiety -.43 -.42 Depression -.46 -.33 Optimism .60 .52  

www.healthpsych.de CONCLUSIONS The Self-Efficacy Scale Is Reliable And Unidimensional Across Cultures.   www.healthpsych.de  

References Schwarzer, R. (Ed.) (1992). Self-efficacy: Thought control of action. Washington, DC: Hemisphere. Schwarzer, R. & Born, A. (1997). Optimistic self-beliefs: Assessment of general perceived self-efficacy in thirteen cultures. World Psychology, 3, 177-190. Schwarzer, R., Bäßler, J., Kwiatek, P., Schröder, K., & Zhang, J. X. (1997). The assessment of optimistic self-beliefs: Comparison of the German, Spanish, and Chinese versions of the General Self-Efficacy scale. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 46, 69-88. Schwarzer, R., Born, A., Iwawaki, S., Lee, Y.-M., Saito, E., & Yue, X. (1997). The assessment of optimistic self-beliefs: Comparison of the Chinese, Indonesian, Japanese and Korean versions of the General Self-Efficacy Scale. Psychologia: An International Journal of Psychology in the Orient, 40, 1-13. Schwarzer, R. & Jerusalem, M. (1995). Generalized Self-Efficacy scale. In J. Weinman, S. Wright, & M. Johnston (Eds.), Measures in health psychology: A user’s portfolio. Causal and control beliefs (pp. 35-37). Windsor, UK: NFER-NELSON. Schwarzer, R. & Jerusalem, M. (Eds.) (1999). Skalen zur Erfassung von Lehrer- und Schülermerkmalen. Dokumentation der psychometrischen Verfahren im Rahmen der Wissenschaftlichen Begleitung des Modellversuchs Selbstwirksame Schulen [Scales for the assessment of teacher and student characteristics.] Berlin, Germany: Freie Universität Berlin. Schwarzer, R., Mueller, J., & Greenglass, E. (1999). Assessment of perceived general self-efficacy on the Internet: Data collection in cyberspace. Anxiety, Stress, and Coping, 12, 145-161. Schwarzer, R., Schmitz, G. S. & Tang, C. (2000). Teacher burnout in Hong Kong and Germany: A cross-cultural validation of the Maslach Burnout Inventory. Anxiety, Stress, and Coping, 13, 309-326. Zhang, J. X. & Schwarzer, R. (1995). Measuring optimistic self-beliefs: A Chinese adaptation of the General Self-Efficacy Scale. Psychologia, 38, 174-181.

Source of this Presentation: Scholz, U., Gutiérrez-Doña, B., Sud, S., & Schwarzer, R. (2002). Is general self-efficacy a universal construct? Psychometric findings from 25 countries. European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 18, No. 3, 242-251.