Toward the Development of a Measure of Perceived Self-Efficacy in Children

Reports three studies leading toward the development of a measure of perceived self-efficacy for children. In Study L 10 self-efficacy items were included as part of an interview with 74 fourth- to sixth-grade urban children who had experienced major life stress and evidenced either stress-affected (SA) or stress-resilient (SR) adjustment outcomes. The SR group had significantly higher self-efficacy scores than the SA group on these items. Next, 10 items were added to the initial pool, and the resulting 20-item scale was used in two new studies. A factor analysis in Study 2, based on responses of a new sample of 314 fourth- to sixth-grade urban children, yielded an interpretable three-factor solution. Relationships were shown between these factor scores and other measures of child functioning. Study 3, with 78 third- to sixth-grade suburban children, showed that the 20-item provisional scale had adequate internal consistency and test-retest reliability.