DOES THE PHYSICAL SELF-EFFICACY SCALE MEASURE SELF-EFFICACY OR SELF-ESTEEM?

Abstract

The Perceived Physical Ability (PPA) subscale of the Physical Self-Efficacy Scale (PSES; Ryckman et al., 1982) has been frequently used to measure the construct of self-efficacy relative to the physical activity/exercise domain. The PPA is also often used in studies examining models of multidimensional self-esteem, such as the Exercise and Self-Esteem Model (EXSEM; Sonstroem et al., 1992), where increases in one's perceived ability (i.e., self-efficacy) are hypothesized to positively influence multidimensional self-esteem. The item construction of the PPA, however, appears to reflect assessment of worth rather than perceived capabilities. PURPOSE To examine the extent to which the PPA versus a situation-specific measure of self-efficacy was related to multidimensional measures of self-esteem in a sample (N = 84) of middle-aged women (M age = 51 yrs). METHODS All participants completed a measure of self-efficacy (PPA) and two measures of multidimensional self-esteem: the Physical Self-Perception Profile (Fox & Corbin, 1989) and the Physical Self-Description Questionnaire (Marsh et al., 1994). In addition, a sub-set of the women in the sample (n = 55) completed a situation-specific self-efficacy measure. RESULTS The correlations between the PPA and multiple esteem dimensions as assessed by the PSPP ranged from .06 to .52 (mean r = .37). The correlations between the PPA and the PSDQ ranged from .32 to .67 (mean r = .60). The correlations between the situation-specific measure of self-efficacy and the two measures of multidimensional self-esteem were substantially lower and were in the range of .03 to .58 (mean r = .28) for the PSPP and .22 to .43 (mean r = .39) in the case of the PSDQ. CONCLUSION The high correlations in the case of the PPA indicate that there is a considerable overlap between the PPA and the measures of multidimensional self-esteem. The PPA might therefore be tapping the same construct as the PSPP and PSDQ (i.e., self-perceptions of worth rather than perceived capabilities).