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SELF-EFFICACY, ADAPTATION, AND ADJUSTMENT THEORY, RESEARCH, AND APPLICA TION THE PLENUM SERIES IN SOCIAL/CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY Series Editor: C. R. Snyder University of Kansas Lawrence, Kansas Current Volumes in this Series: AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR Current Perspectives Edited by L. Rowell Huesmann DESIRE FOR CONTROL Personality, Social, and Clinical Perspectives Jerry M. Burger THE ECOLOGY OF AGGRESSION Arnold P. Goldstein EFFICACY, AGENCY, AND SELF-ESTEEM Edited by Michael H. Kernis HUMAN LEARNED HELPLESSNESS A Coping Perspective Mario Mikulincer PATHOLOGICAL SELF-CRITICISM Assessment and Treatment Raymond M. Bergner PROCRASTINATION AND TASK AVOIDANCE Theory, Research, and Treatment Joseph R. Ferrari, Judith L. Johnson, and William G. McCown SELF-EFFICACY, ADAPTATION, AND ADJUSTMENT Theory, Research, and Application Edited by James E. Maddux SELF-ESTEEM The Puzzle of Low Self-Regard Edited by Roy F. Baumeister THE SELF-KNOWER A Hero under Control Robert A. Wicklund and Martina Eckert A Continuation Order Plan is available for this series. A continuation order will bring delivery of each new volume immediately upon publication. Volumes are billed only upon actual shipment. For further information please contact the publisher. SELF-EFFICACY, ADAPTATION, AND ADJUSTMENT THEORY, RESEARCH, AND APPLICATION EDITED BY JAMES E. MADDUX George Mason University Fairfax, Virginia SPRINGER SCIENCE+BUSINESS MEDIA, LLC LIbrary of Congress CatalogIng-In-PublIcatIon Data Self-effIcacy. adaptatIon; and adjustment : theory. research. and applIcatIon / edIted by James E. Maddux. p. cm. -- (The Plenum serIes In social/clinical psychology) Includes bibliographical references and Index. ISBN 978-1-4757-6498-7 ISBN 978-1-4419-6868-5 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-4419-6868-5 1. Adjustment dIsorders. 2. Self-efficacy. 3. Adaptability (Psychology) 4. Adjustment (Psychology) I. Series. [ONLM: 1. Adaptation. Psychological. 2. Volition. 3. Self Concept. 4. Internal-External Control. 5. Mental 0lsorders -therapy. 6. Health Behavior. BF 637.S38 S465 19951 RC455.4. S87S45 1995 155.2·4--dc20 ONLM/DLC for L1brary of Congress 95-3668 CIP ISBN 978-1-4757-6498-7 ©1995 Springer Science+Business Media New York Originally published by Plenum Press, New York in 1995 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher CONTRIBUTORS ALBERT BANDURA, Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305 NANCY BETZ, Department of Psychology, Ohio State University, Co lumbus, Ohio 43210 VIRGINIA BLAIR, Department of Psychology, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia 22030 ANGELA BOYKIN, Department of Psychology, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia 22030 LAWRENCE BRAWLEY, Department of Kinesiology, University of Water loo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3G1 SHIRLEY BROWN, Department of Psychology, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey 08903 CARLO C. DICLEMENTE, Department of Psychology, University of Houston, Houston, Texas 77204 CRAIG K. EWART, School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21205 SCOTT FAIRHURST, Department of Psychology, University of Houston, Houston, Texas 77204 GAIL HACKETT, Division of Psychology in Education, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287 IRVING KIRSCH, Department of Psychology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut 06269 v vi CONTRIBUTORS JOHN LEWIS, Department of Psychology, George Mason University, Fair fax, Virginia 22030 JAMES E. MADDUX, Department of Psychology, George Mason Univer sity, Fairfax, Virginia 22030 LISA J. MEIER, Department of Psychology, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia 22030 ANN O'LEARY, Department of Psychology, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey 08903 CHRISTOPHER PETERSON, Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109 NANCY PIOTROWSKI, Department of Psychology, University of Hous ton, Houston, Texas 77204 DALE M. SCHUNK, Department of Educational Studies, Purdue Univer sity, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907 S. LLOYD WILLIAMS, Department of Psychology, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania 18105 STEVEN ZACCARO, Department of Psychology, George Mason Univer sity, Fairfax, Virginia 22030 MICHELLE ZAZANIS, Department of Psychology, George Mason Uni versity, Fairfax, Virginia 22030 PREFACE Since the publication of Albert Bandura's landmark 1977 Psychological Review article "Self-Efficacy: Toward a Unifying Theory of Behavior Change," the term "self-efficacy" has become ubiquitous in psychology and related fields. Hundreds of articles on self-efficacy have been pub lished in journals devoted to the subfields of psychology-including social, personality, clinical, health, and industrial! organizational-and in the related fields of public health, medicine, nursing, and business administra tion. Some of these articles have tested various aspects of self-efficacy theory, while others have examined the application of self-efficacy theory to various practical problems, and others have simply mentioned self efficacy somewhere in the introduction or discussion, as if trying to hitch a ride on a passing bandwagon. Keeping up with this growing body of literature-not to mention the literature on other topics relevant to per ceived competence and control-can be a full-time job. This volume offers some relief to overwhelmed researchers and scientifically oriented practi tioners (clinical and otherwise) by providing reviews of the research on most of the most important topics concerned with the relationship be tween self-efficacy and adaptation and adjustment. Although more than a sampler of self-efficacy research, this volume is not a handbook on self-efficacy. The list of topics is selective, not exhaus tive. The initial chapter list included about two dozen topics. My famil iarity with the research on self-efficacy suggested at that time that there were a number of topics that would be of interest to researchers and practitioners, but that simply had not been the subject of a sufficient number of empirical studies to warrant chapter-length treatment. In the intervening years, several of the topics on the initial list have been given vii viii PREFACE sufficient attention to warrant their inclusion were I drawing up the list today. Perhaps a second edition some time in the future will fill the gaps left by this volume. Also, as is always the case with edited volumes, several topics included in the final plan for the book were, for various reasons, later withdrawn. I especially regret the omission of chapters on pain control and organizational and management issues. Unforeseeable cir cumstances in their lives made it necessary for the authors of these chap ters to withdraw reluctantly from the project. Their contributions are missed, and I hope all is well with them now. The title of this volume reflects the two major assumptions that guided its development and the writing of the individual chapters. The first is that beliefs about personal control and mastery are essential for psychological adaptation and adjustment. In this volume, psychological adaptation and adjustment are defined broadly and go beyond the tradi tional clinical notion of the absence of mental disorder or dysfunction. Effective adaptation and sound psychological adjustment also require good physical health and effective functioning in the major life domains of work (for adults) and school (for children). Chapter 2 discusses this first assumption in detail, and the other chapters deal with specific aspects of adaptation and adjustment. The second and more general assumption is that theory, research, and application (clinical and otherwise) are inextricably linked, an assumption that also guides the series in which this volume appears. Thus, this book is intended for both the researcher concerned with basic issues in social cognition (especially the self and self-regulation) and for the practitioner interested in remaining informed about the empirical foundations of psy chological interventions. Although surveys suggest that the scientific prac titioner is a breed rarer than most of us wish (Cohen, Sargent, & Sechrest, 1986; Morrow-Bradley & Elliot, 1986), I hope this volume will convince a few skeptical practitioners that a theory well-grounded in research can provide useful guidelines for designing effective interventions for the clinic, the classroom, and daily life. This volume is organized into five sections. Part I offers an introduc tion to self-efficacy theory and research and discusses some important conceptual issues. Part II describes applications in clinical psychology; Part III, applications in health psychology; and Part Iv, various other applications. Part V consists of commentary chapters by Irving Kirsch, Albert Bandura, and me. The introductory chapter in Part I provides an overview of self efficacy theory and a review of research on several important general theoretical issues. The chapter also attempts to make some connections between self-efficacy theory and related constructs concerned with per- PREFACE ix sonal control and mastery. To avoid unnecessary redundancy, I asked the other contributors to not include in their chapters lengthy introductions to self-efficacy theory. These chapters, therefore, do not provide overviews of self-efficacy theory that would be found at the beginning of journal articles or chapters on self-efficacy that have appeared in other volumes not devoted specifically to self-efficacy theory. For this reason, readers not familiar with self-efficacy theory should read the introductory chapter before the chapters on specific applications. I also hope that readers famil iar with self-efficacy will find the introductory chapter to be a useful review of general conceptual issues. Parts II and III reflect the fact that most of the research conducted by psychologists on the application of self-efficacy theory to problems of adjustment has been concerned with either traditional "clinical" disorders or "mental health" (e.g., anxiety, depression) or topics from health psy chology (e.g., prevention, stress). However, the field called "clinical psy chology" has become increasingly difficult to define over the past two decades. As we have learned more about the generality of psychological change processes, the relationship between normal development and mal adaptation, and the biological basis of behavioral and emotional problems, the boundaries between clinical psychology and other subfields have become more and more blurred. In particular, because psychological and medical theorists, researchers, and practitioners have come to acknowl edge the close relationship between physical health and psychological well-being, the line between clinical and health psychology has become fuzzy at best. Thus, this division is made in this volume merely to provide an organizational scheme and is not an endorsement of the traditional dichotomy between mental health/illness and physical health/illness. In fact, the partitioning of this book into sections called "clinical" and otherwise is done largely for convenience and is not an endorsement of the traditional and rigid boundaries between subfields of psychology or the traditional distinction between so-called "clinical" and "nonclinical" prob lems and populations. As discussed in Chapter 2, the social cognitive approach that provides the conceptual foundation for this volume rejects the partitioning of human behavior into "healthy" and "dysfunctional" categories. Nonetheless, the problems of adaptation and adjustment dis cussed in Part II-anxiety, depression, and various addictive behavior problems (smoking, alcoholism, drug abuse, and eating disorders)-fall within the realm of traditional"c linical" problems and are among the most commonly encountered in traditional clinical settings. In fact, Bandura's initial studies of self-efficacy were conducted with individuals complain ing of fear and avoidance behavior that would probably meet the criteria for clinical phobic disorders. x PREFACE In Part II, Chapter 2 presents a general social cognitive approach to understanding adjustment and problems of adjustment and a more spe cific approach based on self-efficacy theory and research. Thus, the reader is encouraged to begin with Chapter 2. Chapters 3, 4, and 5 then present theory and research on the use of self-efficacy in understanding anxiety and phobic disorders, depression, and addictive behaviors, respectively. Several topics that do not fit into either of these two major categories career and vocational choice, education and instruction, and collective efficacy-have been placed together in a section of "other applications." This appellation is not intended to imply that these topics are more periph eral or less important than those included in the clinical and health sec tions. Few decisions have as great an impact on psychological adjustment and well-being as one's choice of vocation or career. Few experiences have as great an impact on the development of a child's personal competence and control beliefs as his or her academic successes and failures. And few issues are more important to the development of a healthy and effective society than our shared beliefs about our ability to get things done collec tively, whether in businesses, charitable organizations, or governments. Part V contains three commentary chapters. In the first, Irving Kirsch, rather than commenting on each individual chapter, addresses an impor tant conceptual issue-the relationship between self-efficacy beliefs and outcome expectancies. Albert Bandura responds with a commentary ad dressing the conceptual issues raised by Kirsch. My closing brief commen tary is an attempt to find common ground on the major issues on which Kirsch and Bandura seem to be in strong disagreement. I asked the contributing authors to use the writing of their chapters as an opportunity for not only presenting reviews of their work and the relevant work of other people, but also for helping to set an agenda for future research on their specific topics. I think they have succeeded well in this regard. I think they also have succeeded in presenting their material in a clear, succinct, and lively manner. I am especially pleased with the attention they devoted to practical applications. They made my job as editor easier than I expected. I am grateful for their efforts, their coopera tion, and their willingness to conform to some of my editorial idiosyn cracies. I am also grateful to Irving Kirsch and Albert Bandura for taking time from their other many projects to prepare their commentary chapters. I am also grateful to my friend and colleague Lawrence Brawley at the University of Waterloo, Angela Boykin and John Lewis of George Mason University's clinical program, and one former student, Dr. Lisa Meier one of the finest scientist-practitioners with whom I have worked in almost 15 years in clinical training programs. Without their help, I would never have been able to complete my own chapters in addition to serving as
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