The contribution of self-efficacy beliefs to psychosocial outcomes in adolescence: predicting beyond global dispositional tendencies

Abstract

The ability of self-efficacy beliefs to predict psychosocial outcomes was examined among a group of 489 Italian young adolescents, and with respect to three indicators of adjustment: peer preference, academic achievement, and problem behavior. In a longitudinal design, self-efficacy beliefs were used to predict psychosocial outcomes measured two years later. Analyses evaluated the ability of self-efficacy measures to predict outcomes after controlling for the predictive effects of self-reports of the “big five” global dispositional variables. Self-efficacy beliefs proved to predict psychosocial outcomes even after controlling for self-reported global personality dispositions. Adolescents’ perceptions of self-efficacy for regulating their actions in accord with personal norms when they are faced with peer pressure for engaging in antisocial conduct were particularly influential, predicting psychosocial outcomes across all three domains.