No abstract

General self-efficacy is measured by a widely used parsimonious ten-item scale that was developed for use in several cultures. The present paper compares the verions that were examined in samples of 430 German, 959 Costa Rican, and 293 Chinese university students. The internal consistencies were .84, .81, and .91, respectively. The unidimensional nature of the scale was replicated in all samples. Multilingual item-pattern equivalence was only moderately supported by confirmatory factor analyses. Mean differences of sum scores between languages were found. Moreover, an interaction between gender and

L'auto-efficacite generale est mesurte grsce a une courte Cchelle composee de dix items. Son usage est tr&s rkpandu et elle a etC adaptee a plusieurs cultures. Cet article compare des versions qui ont CtC proposees 5 des etudiants: 430 Allemands, 952 Costariciens et 293 Chinois. Les validites internes sont respectivement de .84, .81 et .91. L'unidimensionnalite de I'Cchelle est reapparue dans tous les Cchantillons. L'equivalence items-modele interlinguistique ne fut que modCrCment approuve par des analyses factorielles de confirmation. On a trouvt des diffCrences au niveau des moyennes des scores totaux entre les langues. De plus, une interaction entre sexe et langue s'est manifestee. Des correlations avec la depression, I'anxiCt6 et I'optimisme ont fourni des dements complementaires en faveur de la validit6 de construction.General self-efficacy is measured by a widely used parsimonious ten-item scale that was developed for use in several cultures. The present paper compares the verions that were examined in samples of 430 German, 959 Costa Rican, and 293 Chinese university students. The internal consistencies were .84, .81, and .91, respectively. The unidimensional nature of the scale was replicated in all samples. Multilingual item-pattern equivalence was only moderately supported by confirmatory factor analyses. Mean differences of sum scores between languages were found. Moreover, an interaction between gender and

Changing health-related behaviors requires two separate processes that involve motivation and volition, respectively. First, an intention to change is developed, in part on the basis of self-beliefs. Second, the change must be planned, initiated, and maintained, and relapses must be managed; self-regulation plays a critical role in these processes. Social-cognition models of health behavior change address these two processes. One such model, the health action process approach, is explicitly based on the assumption that two distinct phases need to be studied longitudinally, one phase that leads to a behavioral intention and another that leads to the actual behavior. Particular social-cognitive variables may play different roles in the two stages; perceived self-efficacy is the only predictor that seems to be equally important in the two phases.

During the process of health behavior change, individuals pass different phases characterized by different demands and challenges that have to be mastered. To overcome these demands successfully, phase-specific self-efficacy beliefs are important. The present study distinguishes between task self-efficacy, maintenance self-efficacy, and recovery self-efficacy. These phase-specific beliefs were studied in a sample of 484 cardiac patients during rehabilitation treatment and at follow-up 2 and 4 months after discharge to predict physical exercise at 4 and 12 months follow-up. The three phase-specific self-efficacies showed sufficient discriminant validity and allowed for differential predictions of intentions and behavior. Persons in the maintenance phase benefited more from maintenance self-efficacy in terms of physical exercise than persons not in the maintenance phase. Those who had to resume their physical exercise after a health related break profited more from recovery self-efficacy in terms of physical exercise than persons who were continuously active. Implications for possible interventions are discussed.