Psychological Reportx, 1992, 70, 57-58.
O Psychological Reports
1992
SELF-EFFICACY AMONG HOSPITALIZED MENTALLY ILL PATIENTS ' J. RAY HAYS AND KENNETH E. BUCKLE UniuersiQ of Texas Medical School Housron Summary.-General self-efficacy and social self-efficacy were measured m a psychiatric inpatient population of 105 and compared with Sherer's 477 college students. Patients have lower self-efficacy than college students. A small but sie,n~flcantcorrelation of .38 was noted between general self-efficacy and social self-efficacy. Age was related to general self-efficacy but not social self-efficacy in this population.
Self-efficacy is seen as a potential unifying mechanism underlying changes in behavior (1);however, generalized self-efficacy has received slight theoretical or practical attention (2). The concept needs further development according to Sherer (3) who with colleagues devised one of the few scales to measure generalized self-efficacy (5). This Self-efficacy Scale has 30 items, 17 of which measure general self-efficacy, 6 which measure social self-efficacy, and 7 which are fillers. This study examined the scores of hospitalized psychiatric patients, compared them with introductory psychology students in previously published studies ( 4 , 5 ) , and estimated the relationship of generalized self-efficacy to social self-efficacy and age. Adult patients (N = 105) at the Harris County Psychiatric Center, a publicly supported psychiatric hospital, were asked to complete the scale as part of psychological assessment requested by the attending psychiatrist. These patients were from all units in the hospital, including specialized units such as drug abuse, geriatric, and forensic units. Patients were excluded who were illiterate, those with IQs below 80, and those who were grossly psychotic and uncooperative with testing. The hospital population includes about half involuntarily committed patients and most are indigent or medically underinsured. Patients ranged in age from 18 to 73 years (M= 34 y t , SD = 13). The mean general self-efficacy score was 57.5 (SD = 12.1). The mean on social self-efficacy was 19.4 (SD = 4.9). Sherer's two published samples of introductory psychology students yielded a combined sample of 477, with a mean score on general self-efficacy of 62.3 (SD = 9.8) and a social self-efficacy score of 20.8 (SD = 4.2). The mean difference for the psychiatric sample and the college student sample is significant on generalized self-efficacy (t = 3.76, p < ,001) and on social self-efficacy (t = 2.74, p < .01). These results indicate that psychiatric patients generally have lower self-efficacy than college students. The absolute difference in the scores is quite low, however, 'Requests for reprints should be sent to J. Ray Hays, Ph.D., J.D., Department oE Psychiatry, UTMSH, PO Box 20708, Houston, TX 77225.
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and is statistically but not clinically significant. Further, self-efficacy scores for the patients appeared to be normally distributed, indicating that this scale does an adequate job of discriminating among patients with differing levels of self-efficacy. While self-efficacy is lower among psychiatric patients generally, as an attribute of the individual, self-efficacy may be examined independently of the background of the individual. Knowledge of the perception of self-efficacy among psychiatric patients may prove helpful from a clinical standpoint in planning interventions, setting treatment goals, and in predicting treatment compliance and outcome. The Pearson correlation between generalized self-efficacy and social selfefficacy was moderate but significant ( r = .38, P C .OOl). This indicates that, while there is significant covariance between the two measures, there is also sufficient unique variance to indicate that these subscales are tapping different aspects of self-efficacy. The correlation between age and generalized selfefficacy was low but significant (r = .23, p < .01). I n general, the older a person is the more self-efficacy is felt. Social self-efficacy was not significantly correlated with age (r = .13, p = .lo). The scale appears to have utility in assessing a long neglected area of psychology, viz., the capacity of individuals to become agents of change in their lives, to believe in that capacity and to perceive it. Only with further research will we be able to define the utility of the concept of generalized self-efficacy and this scale which purports to measure it. REFERENCES
1. BANDURA,A. (19771 Self-efficacy: toward a unifying theory of behavioral change.
Psychological Review, 84, 191-215. 2. SHELTON,S. H. (1990) Developing the concept of general self-efficacy. Psychological Reports, 66, 987-994. 3. SHERER, M. (1990) General self-efficacy: more development needed. Psychological Reports, 66, 1242. 4. SHERER, M., & ADAMS,C. H. (1983) Construct validation of the Self-efficacy Scale. Psychological Reports, 5 3 , 899-902. J. E., ILIERCADANTE, B., PRENTICE-Dm, S., JACOBS, B., & ROGERS, 5. SHERER,M., MADDUX, R. W. (1982) The Self-efficacy Scale: construction and validation. Psychological Reports, 5 1 , 663-671. Accepted December 17, 1991.
O Psychological Reports
1992
SELF-EFFICACY AMONG HOSPITALIZED MENTALLY ILL PATIENTS ' J. RAY HAYS AND KENNETH E. BUCKLE UniuersiQ of Texas Medical School Housron Summary.-General self-efficacy and social self-efficacy were measured m a psychiatric inpatient population of 105 and compared with Sherer's 477 college students. Patients have lower self-efficacy than college students. A small but sie,n~flcantcorrelation of .38 was noted between general self-efficacy and social self-efficacy. Age was related to general self-efficacy but not social self-efficacy in this population.
Self-efficacy is seen as a potential unifying mechanism underlying changes in behavior (1);however, generalized self-efficacy has received slight theoretical or practical attention (2). The concept needs further development according to Sherer (3) who with colleagues devised one of the few scales to measure generalized self-efficacy (5). This Self-efficacy Scale has 30 items, 17 of which measure general self-efficacy, 6 which measure social self-efficacy, and 7 which are fillers. This study examined the scores of hospitalized psychiatric patients, compared them with introductory psychology students in previously published studies ( 4 , 5 ) , and estimated the relationship of generalized self-efficacy to social self-efficacy and age. Adult patients (N = 105) at the Harris County Psychiatric Center, a publicly supported psychiatric hospital, were asked to complete the scale as part of psychological assessment requested by the attending psychiatrist. These patients were from all units in the hospital, including specialized units such as drug abuse, geriatric, and forensic units. Patients were excluded who were illiterate, those with IQs below 80, and those who were grossly psychotic and uncooperative with testing. The hospital population includes about half involuntarily committed patients and most are indigent or medically underinsured. Patients ranged in age from 18 to 73 years (M= 34 y t , SD = 13). The mean general self-efficacy score was 57.5 (SD = 12.1). The mean on social self-efficacy was 19.4 (SD = 4.9). Sherer's two published samples of introductory psychology students yielded a combined sample of 477, with a mean score on general self-efficacy of 62.3 (SD = 9.8) and a social self-efficacy score of 20.8 (SD = 4.2). The mean difference for the psychiatric sample and the college student sample is significant on generalized self-efficacy (t = 3.76, p < ,001) and on social self-efficacy (t = 2.74, p < .01). These results indicate that psychiatric patients generally have lower self-efficacy than college students. The absolute difference in the scores is quite low, however, 'Requests for reprints should be sent to J. Ray Hays, Ph.D., J.D., Department oE Psychiatry, UTMSH, PO Box 20708, Houston, TX 77225.
58
J. R. HAYS & K. E. BUCKLE
and is statistically but not clinically significant. Further, self-efficacy scores for the patients appeared to be normally distributed, indicating that this scale does an adequate job of discriminating among patients with differing levels of self-efficacy. While self-efficacy is lower among psychiatric patients generally, as an attribute of the individual, self-efficacy may be examined independently of the background of the individual. Knowledge of the perception of self-efficacy among psychiatric patients may prove helpful from a clinical standpoint in planning interventions, setting treatment goals, and in predicting treatment compliance and outcome. The Pearson correlation between generalized self-efficacy and social selfefficacy was moderate but significant ( r = .38, P C .OOl). This indicates that, while there is significant covariance between the two measures, there is also sufficient unique variance to indicate that these subscales are tapping different aspects of self-efficacy. The correlation between age and generalized selfefficacy was low but significant (r = .23, p < .01). I n general, the older a person is the more self-efficacy is felt. Social self-efficacy was not significantly correlated with age (r = .13, p = .lo). The scale appears to have utility in assessing a long neglected area of psychology, viz., the capacity of individuals to become agents of change in their lives, to believe in that capacity and to perceive it. Only with further research will we be able to define the utility of the concept of generalized self-efficacy and this scale which purports to measure it. REFERENCES
1. BANDURA,A. (19771 Self-efficacy: toward a unifying theory of behavioral change.
Psychological Review, 84, 191-215. 2. SHELTON,S. H. (1990) Developing the concept of general self-efficacy. Psychological Reports, 66, 987-994. 3. SHERER, M. (1990) General self-efficacy: more development needed. Psychological Reports, 66, 1242. 4. SHERER, M., & ADAMS,C. H. (1983) Construct validation of the Self-efficacy Scale. Psychological Reports, 5 3 , 899-902. J. E., ILIERCADANTE, B., PRENTICE-Dm, S., JACOBS, B., & ROGERS, 5. SHERER,M., MADDUX, R. W. (1982) The Self-efficacy Scale: construction and validation. Psychological Reports, 5 1 , 663-671. Accepted December 17, 1991.
