Self-Efficacy in Relation to Adjustment among College Students

Abstract

In a complex social environment, students are bewildered related to making appropriate choices, plan and settings realistic goals. After completing school life they face problems related to college life and have to make collegiate adjustment involving changes roles, relationship, academic demand and social demands. Students make many transitions during the years of schooling: from home to school, middle to high school and high school to college or work. These transitions are usually major events in the life of students and parents. Pursuing a college education requires adjustment on the part of all students though; the type and degree of adjustment experienced by each student will vary depending on background experience and prior schooling. The process of adjustment involves a person attempt to cope with masters and transcend such challenges. Some psychologist have approached adjustment from quit a different angle and defined it in terms of integration of separate responses or acts. Laige units of behavior in which several separate acts or responses are joined or integrated are called adjustment.(Asher, Tiffin & Knight, 1953). For example when we talk about classroom adjustment, we mean integration of separate acts, like listening, reading, attending, reciting, remembering etc. in which the student is engaged in the classroom. Similarly, separate responses are involved in home, occupational and marital adjustment etc. Thus, adjustment may be said to be a combination of the different reactions of the individual which in tune with reality.According to White(1928), adjustment represents compromise between the needs of the individual and demands of the society which he lives in. individual tendencies must be restricted and channeled in certain directions if the person is to function as a member of the social organism .Good (1959) states that adjustment is the process of finding and adopting modes of behavior suitable to the environment or the changes in the environment. In a school or college situation most students will meet problems in some area of school or college life or other. Some of the common problem faced by college students includes lack of self-control, new environmental stimulations, sexual immaturity, or unequal competition. Unexpected trouble like illness, death in his family, personal illness or accident may interfere temporarily with student's progress. The social environment of college requires adjustment on the part of new college students. Students must learn to balance the many social choices they have with their academic responsibilities. Developing new relationships represent an important element of social adjustment.A large number of factors are associated with adjustment however, self-efficacy play a central role in the process of adjustment. Self-efficacy is an impression that one is capable of performing in a certain manner or attaining certain goals. It is a belief that one has the capabilities to execute the courses of actions required to manage prospective situations. Unlike efficacy which is the power to produce an effect (in essence, competence), self-efficacy is the belief (whether or not accurate) that one has the power to produce that effect. The concept of self-efficacy is the focal point of Albert Bandura's social cognitive theory. By means of the self system, individuals exercise control over their thoughts, feelings and actions. Among the beliefs with which an individual evaluate the control over his/her actions and environment, self-efficacy beliefs are the most influential arbiter of human activity. Locke and Latham (1990) found that individual with high self-efficacy tends to pursue more challenging goals than individuals with lower self-efficacy. Self-efficacy levels can enhance or impede the motivation to act. So, self-efficacy was found to be associated with adjustment among children and adolescents. Jerusalem and Mittag (1997) found that persons with high self-efficacy showed better adjustment, whereas those having low personal efficacy beliefs with weak social resources were the most vulnerable to emotional distress and ill health and achieved lower level of adaptation. …