Authors

Ralf Schwarzer & Matthias Jerusalem

Languages

The scale is available in 33 languages at http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~health/selfscal.htm

Origin

German version developed in 1979 by Matthias Jerusalem and Ralf Schwarzer, and later revised and adapted to 26 other languages by various co-authors.

Citation:

Schwarzer, R., & Jerusalem, M. (1995). Generalized Self-Efficacy scale. In J. Weinman, S. Wright, & M. Johnston, Measures in health psychology: A user’s portfolio. Causal and control beliefs (pp. 35-37). Windsor, UK: NFER-NELSON.

Purpose

The scale was created to assess a general sense of perceived self-efficacy with the aim in mind to predict coping with daily hassles as well as adaptation after experiencing all kinds of stressful life events.

Population

The scale is designed for the general adult population, including adolescents. Persons below the age of 12 should not be tested.

Administration

The scale is usually self-administered, as part of a more comprehensive questionnaire. Preferably, the 10 items are mixed at random into a larger pool of items that have the same response format. Time: It requires 4 minutes on average. Scoring: Responses are made on a 4-point scale. Sum up the responses to all 10 items to yield the final composite score with a range from 10 to 40. No recoding.

Description

The construct of Perceived Self-Efficacy reflects an optimistic self-belief (Schwarzer, 1992). This is the belief that one can perform a novel or difficult tasks, or cope with adversity -- in various domains of human functioning.  Perceived self-efficacy facilitates goal-setting, effort investment,  persistence in face of barriers and recovery from setbacks. It can be regarded as a positive resistance resource factor. Ten items are designed to tap this construct. Each item refers to successful coping and implies an internal-stable attribution of success. Perceived self-efficacy is an operative construct, i.e., it is related to subsequent behavior and, therefore, is relevant for clinical practice and behavior change.

Coverage

The scale can be applied, for example, to patients before and after surgery to assess changes in quality of life. Also, it can be used in patients with chronic pain or those within a rehabilitation program.

Reliability

In samples from 23 nations, Cronbach’s alphas ranged from .76 to .90, with the majority in the high .80s. The scale is unidimensional.

Validity

Criterion-related validity is documented in numerous correlation studies where positive coefficients were found with favorable emotions, dispositional optimism, and work satisfaction. Negative coefficients were found with depression, anxiety, stress, burnout, and health complaints. In studies with cardiac patients, their recovery over a half-year time period could be predicted by pre-surgery self-efficacy.

More at:

http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~health/self/selfeff_public.htm

Strengths

The measure has been used internationally with success for two decades. It is suitable for a broad range of applications. It can be taken to predict adaptation after life changes, but it is also suitable as an indicator of quality of life at any point in time.

Weaknesses

As a general measure, it does not tap specific behavior change. Therefore, in most applications it is necessary to add a few items to cover the particular content of the survey or intervention (such as smoking cessation self-efficacy, or physical exercise self-efficacy). How to write such items is described in Schwarzer and Fuchs (1996).

Bibliography (by year)

Jerusalem, M., & Schwarzer, R. (1992). Self-efficacy as a resource factor in stress appraisal processes. In R. Schwarzer (Ed.), Self-efficacy: Thought control of action (pp. 195-213). Washington, DC: Hemisphere.

Schwarzer, R. (Ed.) (1992). Self-efficacy: Thought control of action. Washington, DC: Hemisphere.

Schwarzer, R., & Jerusalem, M. (1995). Generalized Self-Efficacy scale. In J. Weinman, S. Wright, & M. Johnston, Measures in health psychology: A user’s portfolio. Causal and control beliefs (pp. 35-37). Windsor, UK: NFER-NELSON.

Zhang, J. X., & Schwarzer, R. (1995). Measuring optimistic self-beliefs: A Chinese adaptation of the General Self-Efficacy Scale. Psychologia: An International Journal of Psychology in the Orient, 38 (3), 174-181.

Bäßler, J., & Schwarzer, R. (1996). Evaluación de la autoeficacia: Adaptación española de la escala de autoeficacia general [Measuring generalized self-beliefs: A Spanish adaptation of the General Self-Efficacy scale]. Ansiedad y Estrés, 2 (1), 1-8.

Schwarzer, R., & Fuchs, R. (1996). Self-efficacy and health behaviors. In M. Conner & P. Norman (Eds.), Predicting health behavior: Research and practice with social cognition models. (pp. 163-196) Buckingham, UK: Open University Press.

Schwarzer, R., Jerusalem, M., & Romek, V. (1996). Russian version of the General Self-Efficacy Scale. Foreign Psychology (Moscow), 7, 71-77 [in Russian].

Schwarzer, R., Bäßler, J., Kwiatek, P., Schröder, K., & Zhang, J. X. (1997). The assessment of optimistic self-beliefs: Comparison of the German, Spanish, and Chinese versions of the General Self-Efficacy Scale. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 46 (1), 69-88.

Schwarzer, R., & Born, A. (1997). Optimistic self-beliefs:  Assessment of general perceived self-efficacy in thirteen cultures. World Psychology, 3(1-2), 177-190.

Schwarzer, R., Born, A., Iwawaki, S., Lee, Y.-M., Saito, E., & Yue, X. (1997). The assessment of optimistic self-beliefs: Comparison of the Chinese, Indonesian, Japanese and Korean versions of the General Self-Efficacy Scale. Psychologia: An International Journal of Psychology in the Orient, 40 (1), 1-13.

Schwarzer, R., Mueller, J., & Greenglass, E. (1999). Assessment of perceived general self-efficacy on the Internet: Data collection in cyberspace. Anxiety, Stress, and Coping, 12, 145-161.

Rimm, H., & Jerusalem, M. (1999). Adaptation and validation of an Estonian version of the General Self-Efficacy Scale (ESES).  Anxiety, Stress, and Coping, 12, 329-345.

Schwarzer, R., & Scholz, U. (2000). Cross-Cultural Assessment of Coping Resources: The General Perceived Self-Efficacy Scale. Paper presented at the First Asian Congress of Health Psychology: Health Psychology and Culture, Tokyo, Japan.

Scholz, U., Gutiérrez-Doña, B., Sud, S., & Schwarzer, R. (2001-submitted). Is perceived self-efficacy a universal construct? Psychometric findings from 25 countries.

Contact

Prof. Dr. Ralf Schwarzer,
Freie Universität Berlin, Psychologie,
Habelschwerdter Allee 45,
14195 Berlin, Germany,
FAX +49 (30)838-55634
E-mail: health@zedat.fu-berlin.de

http://www.RalfSchwarzer.de

Appendix

English version by Ralf Schwarzer & Matthias Jerusalem, 1995

 1 = Not at all true   2 = Hardly true   3 = Moderately true   4 = Exactly true