- • is for Social Belonging. Wanting to fit in is human nature. Feelings of insecurity and • is for Social Belonging. Wanting to fit in is human nature. Feelings of insecurity and stress when starting college are normal, but they can be isolating and intensify thoughts that 'you don't belong.' But you do belong! Sharing your anxieties with others helps normalize them. Also, while potentially nerve-wracking, reaching out and connecting with your fellow students - whether it be in class, in student clubs, or campus service organizations - can help increase your sense of belonging.

### Self-Efficacy

A A concept that was first introduced by Albert Bandura in 1977, is the belief that you are capable of carrying out a specific task or of reaching a specific goal (Bandura, 1977). Note that the belief and the action or goal are specific. Self-efficacy is a belief that you can write an acceptable term paper, for example, or repair an automobile, or make friends with the new student in the class. These are relatively specific beliefs and tasks. Self-efficacy is not about whether you believe that you are intelligent in general, whether you always like working with mechanical things, or think that you are generally a likable person. Self-efficacy is not a trait - there are not certain types of people with high self-efficacies and others with low self-efficacies (Stajkovic & Luthans, 1998). Rather, people have self-efficacy beliefs about specific goals and life domains. For example, if you believe that you have the skills necessary to do well in school and believe you can use those skills to excel, then you have high academic self-efficacy. Self-efficacy may sound similar to a concept you may be familiar with already - self-esteem - but these are very different notions. Self- esteem refers to how much you like or 'esteem' yourself- to what extent you believe you are a good and worthwhile person. Self-efficacy, however, refers to your self-confidence to perform well and to achieve in specific areas of life such as school, work, and relationships. Self-efficacy does influence self-esteem because how you feel about yourself overall is greatly influenced by your confidence in your ability to perform well in areas that are important to you and to achieve valued goals. For example, if performing well in athletics is very important to you, then your self-efficacy for athletics will greatly influence your self-esteem; however, if performing well in athletics is not at all important to you, then your self-efficacy for athletics will probably have little impact on your self-esteem. Self- efficacy beliefs are not the same as 'true' or documented skill or ability. They are self - constructed, meaning that they are personally developed perceptions. There can sometimes be discrepancies between a person's self -efficacy beliefs and their abilities. You can believe that you can write a good term paper, for example, without actually being able to do so, and vice versa: you can believe yourself incapable of writing a paper, but discover that you can do so. In this way, self-efficacy is like the everyday idea of confidence, except that it is defined more precisely. And as with confidence, it is possible to have either too much or too little self-efficacy. The optimum level seems to be either at or slightly above true capacity (Bandura, 1997). Previously, we discussed how a growth mindset can help you be resilient during challenges you encounter as a college student. Similarly, a strong sense of self-efficacy can help boost your academic success. Students with high self-efficacy believe in their potential to be successful, which leads to better motivation and emotional well-being, helping them to develop academic success habits.