Role of Affective Self‐Regulatory Efficacy in Diverse Spheres of Psychosocial Functioning

Abstract

This prospective study with 464 older adolescents (14 to 19 years at Time 1; 16 to 21 years at Time 2) tested the structural paths of influence through which perceived self-efficacy for affect regulation operates in concert with perceived behavioral efficacy in governing diverse spheres of psychosocial functioning. Self-efficacy to regulate positive and negative affect is accompanied by high efficacy to manage one's academic development, to resist social pressures for antisocial activities, and to engage oneself with empathy in others' emotional experiences. Perceived self-efficacy for affect regulation essentially operated mediationally through the latter behavioral forms of self-efficacy rather than directly on prosocial behavior, delinquent conduct, and depression. Perceived empathic self-efficacy functioned as a generalized contributor to psychosocial functioning. It was accompanied by prosocial behavior and low involvement in delinquency but increased vulnerability to depression in adolescent females.

Eliciting Behavior From Interactive Narratives: Isolating the Role of Agency in Connecting With and Modeling Characters

“…These studies examine agency over a character as a physical manifestation of self-efficacy (Bandura, 1986;2002) within that narrative, in that the user-controlled character experience creates a vicarious prior experience for the user. If a user feels empowered to drive a character's choices, this user might also become empowered to engage in behaviors similar to what the character has performed, given the character just performed these behaviors while under the user's control (Bandura, 1997;Bandura, Caprara, Barbaranelli, Gerbino, & Pastorelli, 2003;Bandura, Caprara, Barbaranelli, Pastorelli, & Regalia, 2001).…”

A Longitudinal Study on Motherhood and Well-Being: Developmental and Clinical Implications

“…This finding, though exploratory in nature, suggests the importance of this aspect in fostering mothers' resilience and well-being. In particular, as regulatory emotional self-efficacy beliefs contribute to efforts in modulating impulsive tendencies (Bandura, Caprara, Barbaranelli, Gerbino & Pastorelli, 2003), they are functional in promoting rewarding and enriching social ties and relations (Eisenberg, Fabes, Guthrie & Reiser, 2000;Fredrickson & Joiner, 2002), as well as empathy (Caprara, Steca, Gerbino, Paciello & Vecchio, 2006). They also facilitate adaptive coping (Folkman & Moskowitz, 2000), and protect from depression (Bandura et al, 2003).…”

The relations of effortful control and impulsivity to children's sympathy: A longitudinal study

“…Individual differences in adult-reported EC also have been correlated with high sympathy and low personal distress in childhood and adolescence (e.g., Murphy et al, 1999;Valiente et al, 2004). During early adolescence, sympathy has been related with personality conscientiousness (Del Barrio, Aluja, & Garcia, 2004), which is believed to partly reflect EC (Rothbart & Bates, 2006), as well as constructive modes of coping (McWhirter, Besett-Alesch, Horibata, & Gat, 2002) and self-reported efficacy in regard to behavioral self-regulation and managing negative emotions (Bandura et al, 2003).…”