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

2. 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

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

4. 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.

5. 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 ). Windsor, UK: NFER-NELSON.
The full 10-item scale can be copied from the web

6. The
Samples

7. Frequency Distribution broken down by Nation

8. Age Distribution

9. Mean Age per Nation (N = 13,461)

10. Distribution of Self-Efficacy Sum Scores for the Total Sample

11. Reliability

12. Scale Reliabilities (Cronbach’s ) for all Nations

13. Unidimensionality

14. 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

15. Group Differences

16. Mean Sum Scores Broken Down by Nation

17. Mean Sum Scores Broken Down by Nations and Gender

18. Validity

19. 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

20. 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

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

22. 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,
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,
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 ). 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,
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,
Zhang, J. X. & Schwarzer, R. (1995). Measuring optimistic self-beliefs: A Chinese adaptation of the General Self-Efficacy Scale. Psychologia, 38,

23. 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,