Identifying and assisting children with low self-efficacy. (2001)

Self-efficacy, an individual's belief in personal ability to perform behaviors that meet needs, has an effect on people's learning, individual thought patterns, and emotional arousal (Bandura, 1997). In addition, self-efficacy affects whether or not an individual will attempt a certain behavior (Bandura, 1977), will persist when meeting obstacles Jacobs, Prentice-Dunn, & Rogers, 1984), will exert effort (Bandura & Cervone, 1983), and will attribute failure to self or others (Wood & Bandura, 1989). These characteristics of self-efficacy can create differences in children's learning experiences in schools (Bandura, Barbaranelli, Caprara, & Pastorelli, 1996). Therefore, identifying children with low self-- efficacy at the beginning of their school years and focusing effort on increasing efficacy could have results that are reflected throughout children's schooling. The relationship between self-efficacy and children's learning was the focus of many research studies on the development of cognitive competencies (e.g., Bandura, 1997; Bandura et al., 1996; Bandura & Schunk, 1981). Results indicated a relationship between the development of these competencies and beliefs of personal efficacy. Moreover, it was established that children's perceived self-efficacy to master certain subject matter affected their academic achievement, motivation, and interest in these areas (Bandura, 1993). The study showed that unless children believed that they had caused the desired outcomes, they had little incentive to act. For these reasons, researchers pointed to the necessity of teachers having knowledge of student acquisition of self-efficacy for learning and about adjusting teaching methods to maximize efficacy in students (Bandura, 1997; Schunk, 1986). The adjustment of teachers to accommodate and increase children's self-efficacy would be facilitated by measurement of the construct of self-- efficacy. Formerly, self-efficacy was measured for each specific area of learning in schools. The measurements included both the relative strength and the frequency of a child's approach to a task (Bandura & Schunk, 1981; Hansen, 1997). This was time-consuming and sometimes difficult. Yet, if a child's general approach to learning situations in school could be quickly measured for efficacy, teachers and counselors could initiate measures for children scoring low on the scale. This focus on early prevention and the inability of young children to self-- assess dictates that the assessment be completed by individuals other than the student. The Self-Efficacy Scale (Fall, 1994b) was developed to meet the need for an early screening tool that could be completed by a child's teacher in a short amount of time. An earlier theoretical manuscript established a connection between theories of self-efficacy and a play therapy intervention (Fall, 1994a). Subsequent research tested the relationship, established preliminary construct validity for the Self-Efficacy Scale, and identified a significant relationship between children's self-efficacy, as measured by the scale, and a counseling intervention of six sessions of play therapy (Fall, Balvanz, Johnson, & Nelson, 1999). Teachers completed the Conners' Teacher Rating Scale (Conners, 1986) and the Self-- Efficacy Scale prior to and following the completion of six play therapy sessions. Teachers also responded to the question, Have you seen any changes in this child's learning from six weeks ago? following the termination of the intervention. Teachers reported increased learning for 67% of the children participating in the counseling intervention. Those children also had a significant increase in self-efficacy. Thus, the study established a preliminary relationship between learning behaviors and self-efficacy expectancy as measured by the Self-Efficacy Scale. Given the importance of self-efficacy for students in schools, the purpose of this study was to assess the revised editions of the Self-Efficacy Scale for use in schools. …