Journal of Research on Adolescence Volume 15 Issue 1, Pages 71 - 97 Published Online: 16 Feb 2005 Journal Compilation 2009 Society for

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Abstract | References | Full Text: HTML, PDF (Size: 163K) | Related Articles | Citation Tracking Impact of Adolescents' Filial Self-Efficacy on Quality of Family Functioning and Satisfaction Gian Vittorio Caprara 1 , Concetta Pastorelli 1 , Camillo Regalia 2 , Eugenia Scabini 2 and Albert Bandura 3 1 University of Rome 2 Universit Cattolica del Sacro Cuore 3 Stanford University Correspondence to Request for reprints should be sent to Gian Vittorio Caprara, Dipartimento di Psicologia, University of Rome, La Sapienza, Via dei Marsi 78, 00185 Roma, Italy. E-mail: gianvittorio.caprara@uniroma1.it ABSTRACT In this prospective study, we tested a structural model in which adolescents' perceived self-efficacy to manage parental relationships affected their satisfaction with family life both directly, and indirectly, through its impact on family practices. Findings based on 380 Italian adolescents showed that perceived filial self-efficacy was linked directly and indirectly to satisfaction with family life, and that these relations held both concurrently and longitudinally. In particular, the greater adolescents perceived their self-efficacy, the more they reported open communication with their parents, the

more accepting they were of their parents' monitoring of their own activities outside the home and the less inclined they were to get into escalative discord over disagreements. Regardless of whether perceived filial self-efficacy was placed in the conceptual structure as a contributor to the quality of family interactions or as a partial product of family functioning, it consistently predicted satisfaction with family life. DIGITAL OBJECT IDENTIFIER (DOI) 10.1111/j.1532-7795.2005.00087.x About DOI Next: Moderating Effects of Adolescents Self-Efficacy Beliefs on Psychological Responses to Social Change Martin Pinquart University of Jena, Martin.Pinquart@rz.uni-jena.de Rainer K. Silbereisen University of Jena, Rainer.Silbereisen@rz.uni-jena.de Linda P. Juang San Francisco State University This study investigated whether self-efficacy beliefs measured before the onset of social change would moderate effects of social change on adolescents life satisfaction, optimism regarding their future, and educational success. Self-efficacy beliefs of 593 German adolescents were measured between 1985 and 1988 before German unification. In 1992, perceived social change due to unification and outcome variables was assessed. Higher levels of perceived negative social change and lower levels of prior self-efficacy predicted lower levels of life satisfaction and less optimism regarding ones future after German unification in 1992. In addition, we found that higher self-efficacy buffers negative effects of unification-based change on both psychological outcome variables. However, no interaction effect between perceived social change and self-efficacy was found on the probability of attending the highest school track in 1992. Key Words: social change German unification coping self-efficacy psychological adaptation Journal of Adolescent Research, Vol. 19, No. 3, 340-359 (2004) DOI: 10.1177/0743558403258851

THO05304 Effects of Year of Schooling, Gender, and Self-efficacy on High School Students Participation in Physical Activity: Social and Educational Implications Kathryn Thorpe, Martin Dowson, Andrew J. Martin,

Rhonda G. Craven, Garry E. Richards, Herbert W. Marsh, Melinda R. Williams, and Philip D. Parker SELF Research Centre, University of Western Sydney, Australia
A sedentary lifestyle adopted during childhood or adolescence can set the stage for a lifetime of physical inactivity. Moreover, physical inactivity has significant implications for students participation in school, social integration in school, mental alertness, classroom behaviour, and academic performance. Studies in the USA and Europe have demonstrated a significant decrease in physical activity during adolescence, particularly for girls. However, the pattern of participation in physical activity across different stages of female and male adolescent development in Australia has yet to be systematically investigated. Whilst few studies have examined the determinants or correlates of activity patterns of children and adolescents, research from the USA suggests self-efficacy is an important predictor of physical activity participation. The current research surveyed 375 high school students to investigate the effects of year of schooling, gender, and self-efficacy on adolescents participation in physical activity. Results of the study indicate that: (1) self-efficacy is a significant predictor of physical activity, (2) physical activity participation levels do not decline significantly as year of schooling increases, and (3) female participation in physical activity was not statistically significantly less than male participation.

Whilst no reliable data is available on the trends in physical activity for Australian children and adolescents, there is growing concerns over the decreaing levels of physical activity (Australian Government, 2005; National Heart Foundation of Australia, 2001; The National Public Health Partnership, 2002). Moreover, it is thought that the decline in physical activity is a major contributor to the increase in the estimated 1.5 million Australian children and adolescents who are overweight or obese (Australian Government, 2005; National Health and Medical Research Council, 1997; National Heart Foundation of Australia, 2001). In an attempt to increase levels of physical activity in school students, the Australian Government is currently introducing legislation into state and non-government schools. This new legislation specifies that at least two hours of physical activity each school week must be included into the curriculum for primary and junior secondary school children (Australian Government, 2005). The legislation is part of the Building a Healthy, Active Australia initiative, in which the Australian government has sought to address the link between regular physical activity and positive health, academic, and social outcomes for students (Australian Government, 2005). Considerable empirical evidence now supports the relationship between physical activity and lower

risk of developing heart disease, diabetes, and obesity (National Heart Foundation of Australia, 2001; Pate et al., 1995). Limited research has also found that adolescents who are regularly active are more likely to adopt other healthy lifestyle behaviours such as decreased substance abuse and superior eating habits to those that are not active (Bouchard, Shephard, Stephens, Sutton, & McPherson, 1990; Pate, Heath, Dowda, & Trost, 1996). In terms of educational outcomes, regular physical activity has been associated with improved class grades and better performance on standardized tests (Black, 1995; Bouchard et al., 1990), increased school attendance rates (Black, 1995; Bouchard et al., 1990), and decreased behavioral problems at school (Black, 1995; Bouchard et al., 1990; Centers for Disease Control, 1990; Gibson-Laemel & Laemel, 1993). In addition, some studies have found that physical activity may help to relieve the negative health outcomes of school-related stress (Brown & Siegel, 1988; Carmack, Boudreaux, Amaral-Melendez, Brantley, & de Moor, 1999; Haugland, Wold, & Torsheim, 2003). Engagement in physical activity may also bring about positive social benefits for children and adolescents. For example, learning to respect the rights of others, learning strategies to resolve conflicts, developing a sense of community belonging and identity, and discovering how to act fairly may result from participation in physical activity (Gibbons, Ebbeck, & Weiss, 1995; Martens, 1993; National Heart Foundation of Australia, 2001). Given these important outcomes, the implementation of school policies to increase physical activity participation is appropriate. However, policies such as these are only a small part of the solution to the increasingly sedentary lifestyles of Australian children and adolescents. There is a need for research to examine the patterns of physical activity and the factors that influence activity among Australian school students so as to inform such policies and interventions and ensure participation continues outside of school. Patterns of Physical Activity Limited international research has found decreases in physical activity in adolescents are associated with increasing year of schooling and age. Canadian research has examined the trends in physical activity for students finding significant declines in activity for year 11 students (Irving, Adlaf, Allison, Paglia, Dwyer, & Goodman, 2003). Similarly, Higgins, Gaul, Gibbons, & Van Gyn (2003) found physical activity decreased with age in children aged 12 to 24 years. Studies from the United States (U. S.) show

that participation in physical activity decreases significantly as age or year of schooling increases (Strauss, Rodzilsky, Burack, & Colin, 2001; U. S. Department of Health & Human Services, 1996). Taiwanese adolescents were found to participate in significantly less physical activity following the transition from junior to senior high school (Wu & Jwo, 2005). Further, research has also investigated the effect of gender on physical activity participation levels. Levels of physical activity were found to be lower in Taiwanese adolescent girls than boys (Wu & Jwo, 2005) and year 9 and 11 males were found to be significantly more active that female students (Allison, Dwyer, and Makin, 1999). American research has suggested that the effects of gender may be moderated by age as up to the age of 13, American girls and boys were found to have similar activity levels; however, after the age of 13, boys were significantly more active than females (Strauss et al., 2001). Such demographic differences factors must taken into consideration when developing school or community-based programs that aim to increase physical activity participation for adolescents (Sherwood & Jeffery, 2000). The present study was designed to address the shortage of research examining the differences in physical activity levels for Australian high school students according to year of schooling and gender. Self-efficacy Few studies have examined the determinants or correlates of activity patterns of children and adolescents. Of the limited research that has addressed this issue self-efficacy has been found to be one of the most consistent predictors of physical activity behaviour (Sherwood & Jeffery, 2000). Such findings are in line with Bandura (1977) who first hypothesised that behavioural changes were primarily mediated by selfefficacy; a persons belief that he or she can successfully perform a desired behaviour. In relation to physical activity, an individual who has been able to complete a specific activity, for example a soccer game, without giving up is likely to feel confident in his or her ability to successfully participate in subsequent games of soccer. The opposite is also true whereby unsuccessful attempts to participate in soccer games will have a negative effect on self-efficacy (Allison et al, 1999). A number of studies have found that self-efficacy is significantly correlated with physical activity participation in children and adolescents (Reynolds et al., 1990; Saunders et al., 1997; Strauss et al., 2001; Trost, Pate, Dowda, Saunders, Ward, & Felton, 1996; Zakarian, Hovell, Hofstetter, Sallis,

& Keating, 1994). The majority of this research however, is situated in an American context with little research validating these effects cross-culturally. Given importance that the Australian government amoung others has placed upon increasing levels of physical activity in Australian school students, there is a need to examine the relationship between self-efficacy and physical activity in Australian school students. The Present Study The present study investigated the predictive validity of self-efficacy, school year and gender as determinants of physical activity among Australian adolescents. The choice of variables examined in the study was influenced by international empirical evidence, thus this research provides a means of crossculturally validating these existing findings in Australian context. Specifically the study aimed to: 1. Examine whether year of schooling, gender, and self-efficacy predicted variance in physical activity participation in high school students and determine the importance of these variables as predictor of physical activity participation. 2. Examine whether mean differences exist in physical activity participation for male and female students, and for students in different years of schooling. and 3. Examine whether self-efficacy varies as a function of gender and school year. It is hoped that these results will provide a basis for exploring a highly important current health issue, and assist educators and health care professionals in implementing interventions that aim to increase physical activity participation levels within schools. Method Participants Data was collected as part of a larger research project exploring the determinates of physical activity participation in school students. Years seven to eleven students (N = 375; 50% males) from two state high schools in the Greater Western Sydney Region completed the full survey. where participants ranged from 11 years to 18 years of age (m = 13.45, SD = 1.18). Measures The measures used for the present study consisted of eight items adapted from the Active Australia Survey (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2003), and a six item short form self-efficacy instrument developed by Rossi, Benisovich, Norman, and Nigg (2000; see Table 1). Table 1. Self-efficacy measure I am confident I can participate in physical activity or exercise when Not at all

confident Somewhat confident Moderately confident Very confident Completely confident 1. It is raining or bad weather (e.g. too hot, or too cold) 1 2 3 4 5 2. I am under lot of stress 12345 3. I feel I dont have time 12345 4. I have to exercise alone 12345 5. I dont have access to a place for exercise 12345 6. I am spending time with friends 12345 Source: Rossi, Benisovich, Norman, and Nigg (2000) Active Australia The Active Australia survey consisted of eight items assessing both the amount and frequency of physical activity participation in the past week. Items were designed to capture both formal exercise and exercise based around general household chores (example item: In the last week, how many times did you do any vigorous physical activity which made you breathe harder or puff or pant (E.g. jogging, cycling, aerobics, competitive tennis). Respondents recorded the number of occasions and amount of time they spent participating in the activities. Self-efficacy The self-efficacy instrument consisted of six items designed to assess real-world situations challenges that an individual may need to overcome to pursue a physically active lifestyle (Rossi et al., 2000). Participants are required to read a short declarative sentence, for example, I am confident I can participate in physical activity or exercise when I feel I dont have time and respond on a five point Likert response

scale (1 = not at all confident and 5 = completely confident). Procedure Teachers administered the questionnaires during Personal Development Health and Physical Education (PD/H/PE) classes. Initially the teachers explained the purpose of the study. Students were then informed that participation was voluntary, and all responses would be kept confidential. Informed consent was sought prior to completion of the questionnaire. Statistical Analysis Data analysis was conducted using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 11. Multiple regression analysis was utilized to determine the total variance explained in physical activity participation by the year of schooling, gender and self-efficacy. Four interactions were also examined in this analysis: a) gender and self-efficacy mean, b) gender and year of schooling, c) selfefficacy mean and year of schooling and d) self-efficacy mean, gender, and year of schooling. Analyses of variance (ANOVAs) were conducted to identify differences in 1) physical activity participation, and 2) self-efficacy according to gender and year of schooling. To investigate gender and year of schooling differences on mean scores for each of the six self-efficacy items, a multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was performed. Results The results from the multiple regression analysis for the effects of year of schooling, gender, and selfefficacy on physical activity participation levels are presented in Table 2. Gender, year of schooling and selfefficacy predicted approximately 10% of the total variance in physical activity participation (R2 = .096) while the addition of the interactions did not reliably improve the R2.Self-efficacy emerged as the only significant predictor of physical activity participation with students higher on self-efficacy being more likely to participate in physical activity than those with lower self-efficacy scores. Year of schooling, gender and the relevant interactions did not significantly predict physical activity participation. Table 2. Multiple Regression of Year of Schooling, Gender and Self-efficacy on Physical Activity
Model Unstandardised Coefficients B SE Standardised Coefficients Beta t Sig. R2 R2 change F change

Sig. F change 1 YSC G SE -4.946 10.133 -25.694 22.709 61.210 13.905 -.033 -.075 .294 -.488 -1.131 4.402 .626 .259 .000 .096 .096 7.256 .000 2 YSC G SE YSCxG YSCxSE GxSE 7.329 53.024 -43.926 203.615 65.013 115.570 -2.452 20.950 -2.671 12.907 12.474 29.506 .048 -.128 .312 -.062 -.110 .139 .138 -.216 .563 -.117 -.207 .423 .890 .829 .574 .907 .836 .673 .097 .001 .091 .965 3

YSC G SE YSCxG YSCxSE GxSE YSCxGxSE -12.853 120.535 -158.505 647.197 10.670 313.484 12.016 80.342 4.187 38.971 51.706 212.363 -4.981 26.697 -.085 -.463 .051 .305 .173 .577 -.440 -.107 -.245 .034 .150 .170 .243 -.187 .915 .807 .973 .881 .915 .808 .852 .097 .000 .035 .852

DV: Physical activity time Note: YSC = Year of schooling; G = Gender; SE = Self-efficacy An ANOVA was conducted to explore the impact of year of schooling and age on physical activity participation, as measured by the adapted Active Australia Survey, using = .05. The overall F tests for gender [F (1, 212) = 1.540, p = .216], year of schooling [F (4, 212) = 1.7, p = .151], and gender by year of schooling [F (4, 212) = .267, p = .899] were not significant (see Figure 1). The mean self-efficacy scores for gender and year of schooling were analysed in the second ANOVA, using = . 05. The overall F tests for gender [F (1, 349) = 3.461, p = .064], year of schooling [F (4, 349) = 1.744, p = .140], and gender by year of schooling [F (4, 349) =.950, p = .435] were not significant (see Figure 2). A two-way MANOVA was performed to examine differences in each of the six selfefficacy items

according to gender and year of schooling. The six dependent variables were the mean scores of the six selfefficacy items (SE1-SE6) whilst the independent variables were gender and year of schooling. No statistically significant differences were found for gender [F (6, 322) = 1.26, p = .276; Wilks Lambda = .98; 2 = .023], year of schooling [F (24, 1125) = 1.04, p = .409; Wilks Lambda = .93; 2 = . 019], or gender by year of schooling [F (24, 1125) = .808, p = .730; Wilks Lambda = .94; 2 = .015] on the combined dependent variables. Pairwise comparisons indicated no significant differences for gender across each of the dependent variables. However, self-efficacy items SE 1 (it is raining or bad weather), SE 3 (I feel I dont have time), and SE5 (I dont have access to a place for exercise) approached significance with females reporting lower self-efficacy mean scores for all three items (see Table 3). Significant differences were found for year of schooling and the dependent variables SE5 (I dont have access to a place for exercise) and SE6 (I am spending time with friends). On inspection of the mean scores year 7 students reported significantly higher levels of self-efficacy than year 8 and 10 students for SE5. In addition, for SE6 year 7 students reported significantly higher levels of self-efficacy than year 8 and 10 students, whilst year 11 students reported significantly higher levels of self-efficacy than year 10 students (see Table 4. For the purposes of brevity only items SE5 and SE6 are presented in the table). No interaction effects were significant. It must be noted that these pairwise comparisons must be treated with caution as the omnibus Ftest was not significant. The reader is urged to interpret these results with caution until replication can confirm the presence of these effects. Table 3. Gender Differences in Self-Efficacy Items Dependent variable Gender Mean 95% CI Mean Difference (M-F) Sig. SE1 M F 3.299 2.955 3.042-3.555 2.671-3.239 .344 .078

SE2 M F 2.830 2.788 2.576-3.085 2.507-3.070 .042 .828 SE3 M F 2.615 2.287 2.385-2.845 2.032-2.542 .328 .061 SE4 M F 3.418 3.220 3.138-3.698 2.910-3.530 .198 .351
Figure 1. Estimated Means of Physical Activity Time per Week 0 50 100 150 200 250 7 8 9 10 11
Year of Schooling

Mean Physical Activity Time

Male Female
Figure 2. Estimated Self-Efficacy for Gender and Year of Schooling
2.7 2.8 2.9 3 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 7 8 9 10 11 Year of Schooling

Mean Self-Efficacy

Male Female SE5 M F 2.927 2.540 2.660-3.194

2.244-2.837 .387 .057 SE6 M F 3.613 3.559 3.351-3.875 3.269-3.850 .054 .787 Table 4. Year of Schooling Differences in Self-Efficacy Items Dependent variable Year of schooling Mean 95% CI Mean Difference Sig. SE5 7 8 9 10 11 3.021 2.621 2.888 2.317 2.821 2.791-3.250 2.351-2.892 2.490-3.286 1.808-2.827 2.149-3.494 Yr 7-8=.399 Yr 7-10=.703 .028 .014 SE6 7 8 9 10 11 3.871 3.454 3.598 3.000 4.007

3.646-4.097 3.189-3.719 3.208-3.988 2.501-3.499 3.348-4.666 Yr 7-8=.418 Yr7-10=.871 Yr11-10=1.007 .019 .002 .017 Discussion The aim of the present study was to explore the effect of gender, school year and selfefficacy on physical activity behaviour. Results indicated that self-efficacy was the only significant predictor of physical activity participation. As such, students with higher self-efficacy scores reported higher levels of physical activity than those with lower self-efficacy scores. These results provide some evidence for the cross-cultural validity of research findings concerning the relationship between self-efficacy and participation in physical activity found in previous American studies with children and adolescents (Reynolds et al., 1990; Saunders et al., 1997; Strauss et al., 2001; Trost et al., 1996; Zakarian et al., 1994). Interestingly, year of schooling and gender did not significantly predict physical activity participation. This finding is inconsistent with findings from other studies (Allison & Adlaf, 1997; Allison et al, 1999) whereby age and gender did emerge as significant predictors of physical activity participation for adolescents. Whilst the first ANOVA revealed there were no significant differences in time spent in physical activity per week for year of schooling and gender, the standard deviations within years were large relative to between years. Notwithstanding this the results provide preliminary evidence of trends where by participation in physical activity declined from year 7 to 8 for males, and from year 7 to Grade 9 for females. Interestingly, the trend was then reversed for both males and females with peak participation levels in year 10. Furthermore, females and males were least active in year 11 which is consistent with findings from other studies (Allison & Adlaf, 1997; Irving et al., 2003). Possibly older adolescents have less time available for physical activity due to academic, social, or other commitments such as getting a drivers licence or working part-time. No significant differences for mean self-efficacy scores were found for gender or year of schooling in

the second ANOVA. However, once again some interesting trends emerged. Male and female mean scores were very similar at year 7. Females mean scores declined from year 7 to 8 then remained relatively constant to year 11. Males however, declined slightly at year 8, increased at year 9, fell below female mean scores at year 10, and then peaked at year 11. The MANOVA revealed no statistically significant differences for gender, year of schooling, or gender by year of schooling on the combined self-efficacy dependent variables. However, significant differences were found for year of schooling and the dependent variables SE5 (I dont have access to a place for exercise) and SE6 (I am spending time with friends). Year 7 students had significantly scores on item SE5 than year 8 and 10 students suggesting that year 7 students are more confident to be physically active even when there is no specific facility available. In addition, year 7 students had significantly higher scores on item SE6 than year 8 and 10 students, whilst year 11 students had significantly higher scores on the same item than year 10 students. Perhaps in the early and late years of high school, physical activities that are socially orientated, as opposed to activities that can be carried out alone, are more important than in the middle years of high school. Although significant differences were not found for gender across the dependent variables, the items SE1 (It is raining or bad weather), SE3 (I feel I dont have time), and SE5 (I dont have access to a place for exercise) were approaching significance. Females reported lower scores for all three items. This perhaps implies that males are more confident to be active than females in rainy weather, when they feel there is not enough time, and when there are no appropriate facilities. As such these findings suggest that gender and self-efficacy interact in some environmental and temporal circumstances to influence participation. Again, the reader is urged to take into consideration that the trends discussed above, in relation to year of school and gender, are drawn from analysis where the omnibus F-test was not significant. Thus, these trends must be treated with caution until they can be replicated in larger samples via planned comparisons. Implications for Education and Research The findings of the present study have important implications for school and community-based interventions designed to increase physical activity participation in adolescents. Since self-efficacy has been

found to be a significant predictor of physical activity participation in this study and previous studies, programs should ensure that opportunities to increase or enhance self-efficacy be provided. Given the importance of self-efficacy and its seemingly independence from gender and year of schooling attention needs to be directed towards providing students with learning opportunities that assist them develop strategies to overcome barriers to physical activity such as lack of time or bad weather. Furthermore, it should be considered that physical activity self-efficacy may change as a function of various demographic and situational characteristic, though this remains an avenue for future research. This study has highlighted the need for further research regarding the patterns and determinants of physical activity participation for adolescents, particularly in relation to gender and year of schooling where possible trends need to be explored. Further, additional studies are needed to examine whether the findings of the present investigation are invariant for other populations of Australian adolescents. Finally, studies that examine other determinants of physical activity for adolescents, for example social support, are needed as is research that aims to develop and test interventions that aim at increasing physical activity self-efficacy in Australian adolescents. About the Authors Kathryn Thorpe is a PhD candidate at the SELF Research Centre, University of Western Sydney. She has a B. App. Sc. (Human Movement) from the University of Wollongong and a B. App. Sc. (OT Honours) from the University of Western Sydney. Her current research focus is the psychological determinants of physical activity. Dr. Martin Dowson is Post-doctoral Research Fellow at the SELF Research Centre. His primary research interest is in motivation and its applications to physical, mental and spiritual functioning and well-being. . Dr. Andrew Martin is Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the SELF Research Centre. His primary research interests are in student motivation and self-concept and their application to teaching and learning processes. Associate Professor Rhonda Craven is Deputy Director of the SELF Research Centre ranked 7th in the world in educational psychology, is Associate-Professor in the School of Education and Early Childhood Studies, University of Western Sydney. As an Educational Psychologist her research focuses on large-scale quantitative research studies in educational settings. Garry E. Richards is the Research Programs Coordinator of the SELF Research Centre.

His research interests are in the areas of self-concept (particularly physical self-concept), human development, outdoor and experiential education and sports. Professor Hebert Marsh is Director of the SELF Research Centre. His primary research interests are in selfconcept, psychometrics, and student evaluation. Melinda R. Williams is an Honours student at the SELF Research Centre. Her honours research formed the basis of this investigation.

Contact details

Kathryn Thorpe, PhD Candidate SELF Research Centre University of Western Sydney Locked Bag 1797 Penrith South DC NSW 1797 Email: kthorpe@mail2world.com Phone: 612 9772 6202 Fax: 612 9772 6423 References Allison, K., & Adlaf, E. (1997). Age and gender differences in physical inactivity among Ontario teenagers. Canadian Journal of Public Health, 88, 177-180. Allison, K. R., Dwyer, J. J. M., & Makin, S. (1999). Self-efficacy and participation in vigorous physical activity by high school students. Health Education & Behavior, 26(1), 12-24. Australian Government. (2005). Active school curriculum. Retrieved April 29, 2005, from http://www.healthyactive.gov.au/docs/active_school_curriculum.pdf. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2003). The Active Australia Survey: A guide and manual for implementation and reporting. Canberra: Author. Bandura, A. (1977). Self-efficacy: Towards a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychological Review, 84, 191-215. Biddle, S., & Armstrong, N. (1992). Childrens physical activity: An exploratory study of psychological correlates. Social Science & Medicine, 34(3), 325-331. Black, S. (1995). Just do it. Executive Educator, 17, 33-36. Bouchard, C., Shephard, R. J., Stephens, T., Sutton, J. R., & McPherson, B. D. (1990). Exercise, fitness and health: A consensus of current knowledge. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics. Brown, J. D., & Siegel, J. M. (1988). Exercise as a buffer of life stress: A prospective study of adolescent health. Health Psychology, 7, 341-353. Carmack, C. L., Boudreaux, E., Amaral-Melendez, M., Brantley, P. J., & de Moor, C. (1999). Aerobic fitness and leisure physical activity as moderators of the stress-illness relation. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 21(3), 251-257.

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Medicine, 23(3), 31 Next:

Career self-efficacy and perceptions of parent support in adolescent career development

Career Development Quarterly, Sept, 2002 by Sherri Turner, Richard T. Lapan
The authors examined the relative contributions of both proximal and distal supports to the career interests and vocational self-efficacy in a multiethnic sample (N = 139) of middle school adolescents. Consistent with Social Cognitive Career Theory, it was found that (a) vocational self-efficacy and career planning/exploration efficacy consistently predicted young adolescents' career interests across

Holland (J. L. Holland, D. R. Whitney, N. S. Cole, & J. M. Richards, 1969) themes; (b) gender and career gender-typing predicted interests in Realistic, Investigative, and Social careers; and (c) perceived parent support accounted for 29% to 43% of the total unique variance in vocational selfefficacy for all Holland theme careers. The role of parents and the role of professional school counselors go hand in hand in the career development of young adolescents. School guidance programs have an underlying purpose to assist students in making informed education and career decisions and to provide the resources and materials to ensure that this process unfolds in a systematic and comprehensive manner (KosteckBunch, 2000). Guidance and counseling are integral parts of each school's total educational program, which is designed to support, facilitate, and encourage classroom instruction and student achievement. The National Career Development Guidelines (Kobylarz, 1996), established in consultation with leading career development experts, recommended that professional school counselors attempt to establish student competencies around several broad areas that include career planning and occupational exploration. Middle school students who develop competency in career planning and exploration gain confidence in such career development tasks as understanding the relationship between learning and work, understanding how to gain the information necessary to seek and obtain various jobs, and understanding the process of career planning (Lapan, Gysbers, Multon, & Pike., 1997; O'Brien, Dukstein, Jackson, Tomlinson, & Kamatuka, 1999). The role of parental influence and support outside the school setting has also been hypothesized to have a significant, positive impact on a child's career development process. Astin (1984) stated that parents act as "value socializers," shaping their children's perceptions of the appropriateness of occupational-related decisions. Eccles (1994) theorized that parents are "expectancy socializers" who greatly influence their children's self-perceptions of being academically and vocationally competent. Young (1994) described parents as the primary providers of encouragement for their adolescents to reach vocational goals through both the modeling of career-related, goal-directed behavior and by actively providing career-related learning experiences. Research has demonstrated some of the positive effects of parent support on adolescent and young adult career development. For example, rural adolescents' perceptions of parent support for pursuing occupations that represent certain Holland (Holland, Whitney, Cole, & Richards, 1969) themes was a significant predictor of their interests in, vocational self-efficacy for, and valuing of these occupations (Lapan, Hinkelman, Adams, & Turner, 1999). Perceived support from fathers was found to be related to the education plans and career expectations of Mexican American high school girls (McWhirter, Hackett, & Bandalos, 1998). Parental encouragement was found to have significant direct effects on learning experiences (grades in mathematics and science), efficacy, and outcome expectancies among undergraduate college students (Ferry, Fouad, & Smith, 2000). These various correlates of the career development of adolescents have been modeled in a newer theory of career development, social cognitive career theory (SCCT; L ent, Brown, & Hackett, 1994, 2000). SCCT (Lent et al., 1994, 2000) provides a model for understanding how the perceived support of parents and the confidence gained through student participation in comprehensive guidance programs interact to support the career development of adolescents. According to this theory, proximal factors (e.g., race, gender, disability/health status, ethnicity) directly predict career interests and the career choice process of young persons by either providing or limiting access to vocational preparation and

employment opportunities. Distal factors (e.g., the environmental supports provided by parents, teachers, and professional school counselors) exert a moderating effect through learning experiences on the young person's career-related self-efficacy and outcome expectations, which then mediate the formation of interests, career-related intentions, and career-related goals. Gender and the gendertyping of careers are related to career interest patterns (Lapan, Adams, Turner, & Hinkelman, 2000); career self-efficacy (t he confidence to perform career specific tasks) and career planning/exploration efficacy are related to and predictive of the range of occupations considered (O'Brien et al., 1999; Rotberg, Brown, & Ware, 1987), the level of occupational interests (Bores-Rangel, Church, Szendre, & Reeves, 1990; Church, Teresa, Rosebrook, & Szendre, 1992), and the confidence to pursue careerrelated tasks (Ahrens & O'Brien, 1996) among adolescents and young adultPurpose of the Study The literature suggests that in order to participate in a more intentional and self-directed way in their own career development process, young adolescents need both the support of their parents and involvement in a comprehensive school-based guidance program that develops confidence around such career-related competencies as career planning and occupational exploration. To date, however, little attention has been given to examining the combined effects of career self-efficacy, career planning/exploration efficacy, and perceptions of parent support on the career interests of middle school adolescents. We used a SCCT framework to examine the relative indirect contribution of perceived parent support (a distal environmental factor) to career self-efficacy as a mediator of career interests; the relative direct contributions of two proximal factors (gender and the gender-typing of careers) to middle school adolescents' career interests; the relative direct contributions of career selfefficacy and career planning /exploration efficacy to the career interests of middle school adolescents; and, as a test of SCCT theory, the relative direct contribution of the distal environmental factor, perceived parent support, to the career interests of young adolescents. Specifically, we hypothesized that (a) the proximal supports of gender and career gender-typing, as well as career self-efficacy and career planning/exploration efficacy would significantly and differentially predict middle school adolescents' career interests across Holland (Holland et al., 1969) themes; (b) perceived parent support would significantly and differentially predict middle school adolescents' career self-efficacy across Holland themes; and (c) perceived parent support would directly predict middle school adolescents' career interests across Holland themes. Participants Participants were 139 seventh- and eighth-grade students who were distributed approximately equally between the two grades (79 boys, mean age 12.62 years, SD = .71 years; 60 girls, mean age = 12.55 years, SD = .72 years). Eighty-four of the students were Caucasian Americans, 21 were African Americans, 18 were foreign nationals, 12 were Asian Americans, 3 were Hispanic Americans, and 2 were Native Americans. The foreign national students were first-generation Americans from Asia, Africa, and the Middle East who were born outside the United States. The participants were from a midsized midwestern community. All participants attended one of two middle schools that offered. comprehensive guidance, including career planning and exploration activities, to all students throughout the school year. Both schools were in middle-class neighborhoods. Participants were recruited by one teacher from each school by asking for volunteers from each teacher's career development classes.

Measures Mapping vocational challenges. Occupational interests, career self-efficacy expectations (the confidence to perform career specific tasks), perceived parent support for pursing particular occupations, and career gender-typing were measured using Mapping Vocational Challenges (MVC; Lapan & Turner, 1997). The MVC is a computerized self-report assessment instrument that consists of the titles of 90 occupations, 15 for each Holland (Holland et al., 1969) occupational theme (Realistic [trades], Investigative [mathematics and science], Artistic, Enterprising [person-oriented business professions], Social [helping professions], and Conventional [data-oriented business professions]). These 90 occupations were presented sequentially to the participants. As each of the occupations was presented, the participants rated their interest level on a 3-point Likert-type scale (1 = low interest, 3 = high interest); their efficacy expectations on a dichotomous scale (0 = I do not have confidence I could do this type of job, 1 = I have confidence I could do this type of job); their perceived gender-typing of the occupation on a 5-point Likert-type scale (0 = mostly men, 4 = mostly women); and their perceptions of parent support on a dichotomous scale (0 = My parents would not support ort me in pursuing this occupation, 1 = My parents would support me in pursuing this occupation). . For each Holland (Holland et al., 1969) theme category, we constructed four variables by taking the mean scale scores for each participant. These variables were interest level in the occupations in that Holland category (e.g., Realistic Interest), career self-efficacy (confidence to perform career-related tasks) for the occupations in that category (e.g., Realistic Career Efficacy), the gender-typing of the careers in that category (e.g., Realistic Gender-Typing), and the level of perceived parent support for careers in that category (e.g., Realistic Parent Support). These variables, which are reported in Table 1, were constructed by raking the mean of the 15 ratings for each scale item within each of the Holland occupational categories. For the career interests scales, internal consistency estimates ranged from .70 to .77 for girls, .70 to . 77 for boys, and .70 to .76 for the total sample. For the career self-efficacy scales, internal consistency estimates ranged from .79 to .84 for girls, .77 to .85 for boys, and .78 to .84 for the total sample. For the perceived parent support scales, internal consistency estimates ranged from .82 to .91 for boys, .83 to .87 for girls, and .82 to .89 for the total sample. Reliabilities for the gender-typing scales were not calculated because of the lack of variability among the participants' ratings. Career Planning and Exploration Efficacy Scale. Career planning and occupational exploration efficacy was measured using the Career Planning and Exploration Efficacy Scale (CPEE) from the Missouri Comprehensive Guidance Survey (MCGS; Gysbers, Multon, Lapan, & Lukin, 1992). The CPEE is a 10-item measure of confidence for successfully engaging in one's own exploration and planning for suitable or potentially congruent careers. Sample items from this scale are "I know how to explore careers in which I may be interested," and "I understand how to prepare for careers in which I may be interested." The CPEE is scored on a 7-point Likert-type scale (1 = low confidence, 7 = high confidence). Higher scores indicate greater confidence. As reported in Table 1, one variable was constructed for the CPEE by taking the mean of participants' ratings for all scale items. Internal consistency estimates for the CPEE were .73 for boys, .82 for girls, and .76 for the total sample.

Procedure During the fall semester of the school year, participants engaged in a variety of career planning and exploration activities, such as exploring labor market access, work activities, working conditions, educational requirements, salary levels, and occupational outlooks for specific careers. The participants completed two separate career interest inventories and participated in a 1-day job shadowing activity at a local business or factory. During the first 2 weeks of the following spring semester, the participants completed the MVC and the CPEE scale of the MCGS. These instruments were completed in classroom settings in which there were approximately 20 to 25 students. The testing was done in a series of five steps. First, participants viewed an online tutorial and received 10 minutes of pretest verbal instruction and practice in computerized test taking. Second, demographic information (age, gender, place of residence, ethnicity) was collected from participants. Next, participants completed the MVC career asse ssment instrument, which took approximately 25 to 30 minutes. Participants then completed the MCGS, which took approximately 15 minutes. Finally, participants were offered the opportunity to discuss their experiences with the assessment process and what they learned about themselves. One adolescent with an identified reading problem received teacher assistance in completing the MVC and the CPEE Scale, but his results were excluded from the subsequent statistical analyses. Results Hypothesis 1 stated that gender, career gender-typing, career self-efficacy, and career planning/exploration efficacy would significantly and differentially predict middle school adolescents' career interests across Holland (Holland et al., 1969) themes. To test this hypothesis, six multiple regression analyses were conducted, one for each Holland theme, with the interest level for occupations categorized by each Holland theme as the dependent variables. Gender, the gendertyping of careers in that category, career self-efficacy for the careers in that category, and career planning/exploration efficacy were the independent variables. Table 2 reports the correlation matrix of the variables for each equation. Hypothesis 1 was partially supported. As shown in Table 3, four variables together significantly predicted interests in Realistic, Investigative, and Social occupations, with each adding significant unique variance to the prediction equation. Gender, career gender-typing, career self-efficacy, and career planning/exploration efficacy accounted for 25% of the total variance in Realistic interests, 30% of the total variance in Investigative interests, and 23% of the total variance in Social interests. Three variables significantly predicted interests in Artistic occupations: gender, career self-efficacy, and career planning! exploration efficacy, which accounted for 18% of the total variance in Artistic interests. Only two variables significantly predicted interests in Enterprising and Conventional occupations. For enterprising interests, career self-efficacy, and career planning/exploration efficacy accounted for 19% of the total variance. For conventional interests, career self-efficacy, and career planning exploration efficacy accounted for 12% of the total variance. Post hoc analyses using paired-samples t tests with alpha set to .05/(c) (number of comparisons) to control for Type II experiment-wise error (Ferguson & Takane, 1989) indicated that participants gender-typed Realistic and Investigative careers as employing significantly more men than Artistic (t

= -2.37, p < .001; t -10.39, p < .001), Social (t = -19.34, p < .001; t = -16.93, p < .001), Enterprising (t = -12.83, p < .001; t = -9.65, p < .001), or Conventional careers (t = -15.17, p < .001; t = -12.26, p < . 001). Participants gender-typed Artistic and Enterprising careers as employing approximately the same number of men and women (t = -1.56, p < .123). In addition, participants gender-typed Social and Conventional careers as employing significantly more women than Realistic (t = 19.34, p < .001; t = 15.17, p < .001), Investigative (t = 16.93, p < .001; t = 12.26, p < .001), and Artistic careers (t = 8.15, p < .001; t = 3.87, p < .001), and gender-typed Social careers as employing significantly more women tha n Enterprising careers (t = 6.29, p < .001). Means and standard deviations for the gendertyping variables are found in Table 1. Post hoc analyses using independent samples t tests with alpha set to .05/ (c) (number of comparisons) to control for Type II experiment-wise error (Ferguson & Takane, 1989) also indicated that boys had greater interests than girls in Realistic (t = 3.24, p < .003) and Investigative careers (t = 3.71, p < .001). Girls had greater interests than boys in Artistic (F = 4.73, p < .032) and Social careers (F= 13.22, p < .001). Means and standard deviations for the interest variables are also found in Table 1. Hypothesis 2 stated that perceived parent support would significantly and differentially predict adolescents' career self-efficacy across Holland (Holland et al., 1969) themes. To test this prediction, six linear regressions were run with the efficacy level for occupations in each Holland theme category as the dependent variables and perceived parent support for occupations in that Holland theme category as the independent variables. Table 1 reports the means and standard deviations for each variable used in these analyses. Table 2 reports the correlation matrix of the variables used in these equations. Hypothesis 2 was supported. As reported in Table 3, perceived parent support significantly and differentially predicted adolescents' career self-efficacy across Holland (Holland et al., 1969) themes. Parent support for pursuing Holland theme occupations accounted for the following unique variance in career self-efficacy for each category: Investigative, 43%; Conventional, 41%; Enterprising, 36%; Realistic, 35%; Social, 31%; and Artistic, 29%. Hypothesis 3 stated that perceived parent support would directly predict middle school adolescents' career interests across Holland themes. To test this hypothesis, multiple regressions were conducted; the independent variables were perceived parent support for each of the Holland (Holland et al., 1969) theme career categories, and the dependent variables were interests in careers in each of the Holland themes. Hypothesis 3 was not supported. Perceived parent support did not directly predict young adolescents' career interests in any of the Holland theme categories (Realistic t = -.8, p > .05; Investigative = -1.92, p > .05; Artistic t = -1.08, p > .05; Social t = -1.66, p> .05; Enterprising t = -1.17, p > .05; Conventional t = -.97, p > .05). Table 2 reports the correlation matrix of the variables used in these equations. Discussion This study examined the relationships among perceived parent support, career self-efficacy, career planning/exploration efficacy, gender and career gender-typing, and the career interests of middle

school adolescents. Consistent with SCCT, results indicate that career self-efficacy, career planning/ exploration efficacy, and perceived parent support interactively predicted young adolescents' career interests for all Holland (Holland et al., 1969) type careers. Specifically, our findings indicate that career self-efficacy, and career planning/exploration efficacy directly and differentially predicted middle school adolescents' career interests across Holland themes. The distal factor of perceived parent support was not directly associated with young adolescents' career interests but did directly predict their career self-efficacy. The proximal factors of gender and career gender-typing directly predicted middle school adolescents' interests in Realistic, Investigative, and Social careers but not in Artistic, E nterprising, or Conventional careers. Moreover, our results indicate that the set of predictor variables under study accounted for somewhat smaller proportions of the variance in Artistic interests (17%), Enterprising interests (19%), and Conventional interests (12%), than in Realistic (25%), Investigative (30%), and Social (23%) interests, although perceived parent support accounted for substantial proportions of the variance in career self-efficacy for all Holland type careers (Realistic, 36%; Investigative, 43%; Artistic, 29%; Social, 36%; Enterprising, 36%; Conventional, 41%). For Realistic, Investigative, and Social careers, post hoc analyses revealed that gender and gender-typing differences were accounted for by participants' perceptions that more men were employed in Realistic and Investigative careers, with boys having greater interests in these careers; furthermore, participants perceived that more women were employed in Social careers, with girls having greater interests in these careers. These analyses confirm the results of previous studies (Bores-Rangel et al., 1990; Church et al., 1992; Lapan, Shaughnessy, & Boggs, 1996) and suggest that young people do perceive differential gender-based access to the preparation for and pursuit of careers in fields such as engineering, the sciences, technical occupations, teaching, or counseling. Taken together, our findings indicate that the variance in Artistic, Enterprising, and Conventional career interests may be better accounted for by other proximal or distal supports than were included in this study (e.g., proximal factors such as values, abilities, or performance might account for more of the variance). Approximately one fourth of the variance in Realistic, Investigative, and Social careers interests, however, was accounted for by variables other than abilities and performance, suggesting that a variety of career counseling interventions may be helpful to extend the range of occupations young adolescents are considering when making initial education and occupation choices. Next, our results indicate that career planning/exploration efficacy and career self-efficacy were both significantly associated with middle school adolescents' career interests across Holland themes. This finding extends previous career self-efficacy research, which has focused on the confidence to perform career specific tasks (Betz & Schifano, 2000; Lapan et al., 1999), and highlights the importance of career planning and exploration in young adolescents' career development. The confidence to explore self in relation to the occupational world (Blustein, 1997), the confidence to find career-specific occupational information, and the confidence to engage in intentional, selfdirected educational and vocational planning (Lapan, Kardash, & Turner, 2002) can facilitate adolescents' vocational aspirations for careers that they may have perceived to be inaccessible. Finally, our results suggest that the strong associations between young adolescents' perceptions of

parental support for pursuing particular types of careers and the confidence young adolescents have for performing tasks related to those careers may stand in contrast to older adolescents dependence on other environmental career supports, such as peer support (McWhirter et al., 1998). It is particularly noteworthy that for younger adolescents, parent support accounted for as much as approximately one third to almost one half of their children's career-task related confidence. Therefore, we suggest that early adolescence may be a critical time for parental involvement in the career development of their children. Suggestions for Practitioners On the basis of our findings, we suggest that professional school counselors can use the SCCT framework to guide their school counseling interventions, using a two-pronged approach. First, professional school counselors can provide to middle school students counseling interventions that are designed to reduce the effects of career gender-typing and increase career planning/exploration efficacy across a variety of careers. Second, they can train and assist parents in providing opportunities to increase their adolescents' task-performance-focused career self-efficacy. In working directly with students, we recommend several interventions that can reduce the effects of career gender-typing. One intervention is to use the interpretative report that is produced after individual administration of the MVC computer program. This report gives professional school counselors and middle school students a description of how young adolescents' confidence in particular occupations are affected by their perceptions of career gender-typing, and it allows the counselor to ask questions such as, "Is there any career that you think would be fun that is a boy's (girl's) career?" Another intervention that could help middle school students challenge their genderstereotyping of occupations is to use video clips and informational interviews with adults who are engaged in nontraditional careers or interviews with older adolescents who are preparing for nontraditional careers. To help increase middle school adolescents' career planning/exploration efficacy, we suggest that professional school counselors assist their students in learning career planning and exploration skills. For example, young people can engage in self-exploration skills through taking, and having interpreted to them, career assessment instruments that are designed specifically for middle school students. The MCGS, for example, can help students assess their strengths in the area of career planning/exploration, as well as those career planning/exploration skills they still want to develop. The Unisex ACT Interest Inventory-Revised (American College Testing, 1995) can aid discussions that link adolescents' enjoyment of current activities, such as exploring a science museum or drawing cartoons, to later occupational possibilities. Web sites such as the Bureau of Labor Statistics (2001) Web site "BLS Career Information: Jobs for Kids Who Like..." provide career information that is suitable for sixth-, seventh-, and e ighth-grade learners, as well as affording them the opportunity to discover what types of occupational information will be important for them to explore throughout their careers. To assist parents in increasing their adolescents' career self-efficacy, we recommend that they be given the opportunity to understand more thoroughly the types of careers that will be available for their children. To do this, professional school counselors should provide parents with career

information about specific occupations. This career information can be presented in various ways, including weekly columns in the school bulletin, information about highlighted careers on school listserves, and family nights at the school career center. We also recommend that professional school counselors hold parent training seminars to teach parents career-related communication skills, such as how to listen to their adolescents' career concerns, how to provide adolescents with verbal feedback about career choices, and how to provide adolescents with individual instruction in work-related skills and values (Paa & McWhirter, 2000; Young & Friesen, 1992). Limitations of the Study This study did not assess the effectiveness of school-based comprehensive guidance programs in increasing career-related efficacy The study, instead, relied on previous statewide research that found that participation in such guidance programs significantly increased efficacy in targeted competency areas. This study also did not measure the magnitude of career self-efficacy or perceived parent support in the current sample of middle school adolescents. Suggestions for Future Research We suggest that subsequent research should focus on the interaction of different types of parent support with middle school adolescents' confidence to pursue certain career paths or to engage in certain types of career choice behavior. Future research should also focus on discovering the most effective ways for parents to support young women's interests and preparation for mathematics, science, and technology careers, and young men's interests in careers such as teaching and counseling. We also suggest that research focus on ways that other proximal factors, such as race/ethnicity and health/disability status influence career interests, and on ways that other background distal factors, such as teacher support or specialized. technology, interact with and influence career efficacy. Finally, we suggest that outcome studies be conducted on the most effective ways that career exploration for specific careers can increase early career interests and aid in the career choice process among young adolescents.
Table 1 Means and Standard Deviations for Dependent and Independent Variables for Each Holland Occupational Category R Variable Interests Boys Girls Total Career SelfEfficacy Boys Girls Total M 1.77 1.59 1.69 SD 0.32 0.31 0.33 M 1.90 1.67 1.80 I SD 0.37 0.35 0.38 M 1.80 1.93 1.86 A

0.26 0.19 0.24

0.26 0.20 0.24

0.30 0.25 0.28

0.25 0.22 0.24

0.31 0.36 0.33

Occupational Gender-Typing Boys Girls Total Perceived Parent Support Boys Girls Total Career Planning and Exploration Efficacy Boys Girls Total

1.54 1.50 1.52

0.28 0.29 0.28

1.59 1.62 1.60

0.33 0.27 0.30

1.88 2.01 1.93

0.29 0.23 0.26

0.28 0.24 0.26

0.35 0.32 0.34

0.31 0.26 0.29

0.35 0.38 0.35

5.71 5.85 5.77 A

0.69 0.69 0.69 S M 1.54 1.74 1.62 SD 0.31 0.33 0.34 M 1.58 1.62 1.60 E SD 0.34 0.35 0.34

Variable Interests Boys Girls Total Career SelfEfficacy Boys Girls Total Occupational Gender-Typing Boys Girls Total Perceived Parent Support Boys Girls Total Career Planning and Exploration Efficacy Boys Girls Total

SD 0.32 0.35 0.34

0.24 0.25 0.24

0.19 0.32 0.25

0.22 0.22 0.23

0.21 0.24 0.22

0.25 0.23 0.24

0.29 0.23 0.27

2.19 2.18 2.18

0.26 0.30 0.27

1.95 2.03 1.98

0.32 0.32 0.32

0.33 0.26 0.26

0.25 0.35 0.29

0.29 0.26 0.28

0.24 0.24 0.24

0.31 0.27 0.29

Variable Interests Boys Girls Total Career SelfEfficacy Boys Girls Total Occupational Gender-Typing Boys Girls Total Perceived Parent Support Boys Girls Total Career Planning and Exploration Efficacy Boys Girls Total

M 1.53 1.58 1.55

SD 0.29 0.36 0.31

0.20 0.22 0.21

0.26 0.24 0.25

2.05 2.06 2.05

0.26 0.30 0.28

0.23 0.25 0.24

0.31 0.26 0.29

Note: R = Realistic; I = Investigative; A = Artistic; S = Social; E = Enterprising; C = Conventional. df = 138; n = 79 boys; n = 60 girl. Scores on the Interest Scale range from 1 to 3, with higher scores indicating higher interest. Scores on the Career Self-Efficacy Scale range from 0 to 1, with 0 = no efficacy and 1 = efficacy. Scores on Occupational Gender-Typing Scale range from 0 to 4, with higher scores indicating more women and lower scores indicating more men. Scores on the Perceived Parent Support Scale range from 0 to 1, with 0 = no perception of parental support and = perception of parental support. Scores on the Career Planning and Exploration Efficacy Scale range from 1 to 7, with higher scores indicating greater efficacy. TABLE 2 Correlations of Dependent Variables and Independent Variables From Each Holland Occupational Category Variable/Interest Realistic Int Gender GenTyp VocEff Int -Gender -.27 ** -GenTyp -.21 * -.07 -VocEff .25 ** -.15 .03 -Par .01 -.03 .16 * .68 * CPEE -.27 ** .10 .08 .18

Par Investigative Int Gender GenTyp VocEff Par Artistic Int Gender GenTyp VocEff Par Social Int Gender GenTyp VocEff Par Enterprising Int Gender GenTyp VocEff Par Conventional Int Gender GenTyp VocEff Par --.28 ** --.18 * .04 -.36 *** -.11 -.03 --

-.05 .05 .04 .72 ** -.06 .14 -.04 .65 ** -.08 .24 ** -.08 .66 ** -.05 .15 * .01 .70 ** -.05 .15 * .02 .73 ** --

.07 -.24 ** .10 -.07 .18 * .11 -.14 .11 -.03 .19 * .12 -.23 ** .10 .18 * .24 ** .08 -.35 *** .10 .15 .16 .07 -.22 * .10 .04 .23 ** .11

--

.18 * --

-.10 .24 ** --

.29 ** .10 -.01 --

--

.29 ** --

-.24 ** -.01 --

.23 ** .28 ** -.06 --

--

.05 --

-.18 * .13 --

.15 .06 -.12 --

--

.08 --

-.08 .03 --

.19 * .04 .04 --

Note: Int = Interests; GenTyp = Gender-Typing; VocEff = Career Self-Efficacy; Par = Perceived Parental Support; CPEE = Career Planning and Exploration Efficacy. Correlations are Pearson product- moment coefficients. df = 138. * p < .05. ** p < .01. *** p < .001. TABLE 3 Results of Regression Analyses Showing the Amount of Unique Variance in Interests and Career Self-Efficacy Across Holland Theme Occupational Categories Variable Realistic interests Gender R .50 [R.sup.2] .25 -.22 [beta] F 10.96 *** -2.86 ** t

Gender-Typing Career Self-Efficacy Career Planning and Exploration Efficacy Investigative Interests Gender Gender-Typing Career Self-Efficacy Career Planning and Exploration Efficacy Artistic interests Gender Gender-Typing Career Self-Efficacy Career Planning and Exploration Efficacy Social interests Gender Gender-Typing Career Self-Efficacy Career Planning and Exploration Efficacy Enterprising interests Gender Gender-Typing Career Self-Efficacy Career Planning and Exploration Efficacy Conventional interests Gender Gender-Typing Career Self-Efficacy Career Planning and Exploration Efficacy Realistic efficacy Parental Support Investigative efficacy Parental Support Artistic efficacy Parental Support Social efficacy Parental Support Enterprising efficacy Parental Support Conventional efficacy Parental Support

-.22 .27 -.28 .54 .30 -.20 -.18 .38 -.30 .41 .17 .21 -.15 .31 -.22 .48 .23 .25 -.18 .21 -.27 .43 .19 .09 -.11 .19 -.37 .35 .12 .10 -.08 .25 -.28 .59 .66 .54 .55 .60 .64 .35 .43 .29 .31 .36 .41 .59 .66 .54 .55 .60 .64 74.94 *** 104.18 *** 55.90 *** 60.98 *** 76.45 *** 95.65 *** -4.71 ** 9.98 *** 9.98 *** 6.99 *** 14.21 ***

-2.86 ** 3.52 ** 3.59 *** -2.72 ** -2.49 * 5.16 *** -4.08 *** 2.58 * -1.86 3.81 *** -2.78 ** 3.23 ** -2.36 * 2.61 * -3.44 ** 1.19 -1.39 2.38 -4.67 *** 1.20 -1.03 3.01 ** -3.38 ** 8.66 *** 10.21 *** 7.48 *** 7.81 *** 8.74 *** 9.78 ***

Note: df for Interest equations = (4, 134); df for Career Self- Efficacy equations = (1, 138); n = 79 boys, n = 61 girls. * p <. 05. ** p <. 01. *** p <. 001.

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OK: National Occupational Information Coordinating Committee. Kosteck-Bunch, L. (2000). Guidance and placement. Retrieved April 14, 2001, from http://www.dese.state.mo.us/divvoced/guid/. Lapan, R. T., Adams, A., Turner, S., & Hinkelman, J. M. (2000). Seventh graders' vocational interest and efficacy expectation patterns. Journal of Career Development, 26, 215-229. Lapan, R. T., Gysbers, N. C., Multon, K. D., & Pike, G. R. (1997). Developing guidance competency self-efficacy scales for high school and middle school students. Measurement and Evaluation in Counseling and Development 30, 4-16. Lapan, R. T., Hinkelman, J. M., Adams, A., & Turner, S. (1999). Understanding rural adolescents' interests, values, and efficacy expectations. Journal of Career Development, 26, 107-124. Lapan, R. T., Kardash, C., & Turner, S. (2002). Empowering students to become self-regulated learners. Professional School Counseling, 5(4), 257-265. Lapan, R. T., Shaughnessy, P., & Boggs, K. (1996). Efficacy expectations and vocational interests as mediators between sex and choice of math/science college majors: A longitudinal study. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 49, 277-291. Lapan, R. T., & Turner, S. L. (1997). Mapping Vocational Challenges [Unpublished assessment instrument]. (Available on request from the first author) Lent, R. W, Brown, S.D., & Hackett, G. (1994). Toward a unifying social cognitive theory of career and academic interest, choice, and performance. Journal & of Vocational Behavior, 45, 79-122. Lent, R. W., Brown, S. D., & Hackett, G. (2000). Contextual supports and barriers to career choice: A social cognitive analysis. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 47, 36-49. McWhirter, E. H., Hackett, G., & Bandalos, D. L. (1998). A causal model of the educational plans and career expectations of Mexican American high school girls. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 45, 166-181. O'Brien, K. M., Dukstein, R. D., Jackson, S. L., Tomlinson, M. J., & Kamatuka, N. A. (1999). Broadening career horizons for students in at-risk environments. The Career Development Quarterly, 47, 215-229. Paa, H. K., & McWhirter, E. H. (2000). Perceived influences on high school students' current career expectations. The Career Development Quarterly, 49, 29-44. Rotberg, H. L., Brown, D., & Ware, W. B. (1987). Career self-efficacy expectations and perceived range of career options in community college students. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 34, 164170.

Young, R. A. (1994). Helping adolescents with career development: The active role of parents. The Career Development Quarterly, 42, 195-203. Young, R. A., & Friesen, J. D. (1992). The intentions of parents in influencing the career development of their children. The Career Development Quarterly, 40, 198-207. Sherri Turner, Department of Educational Psychology, Counseling and Student Personnel Psychology, University of Minnesota; Richard T. Lapan, Department of Educational and Counseling Psychology, University of Missouri--Columbia. This research was funded in part by a grant from the University of Missouri college of Education's Math, Science, and Technology Initiative. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Sherri Turner, Department of Educational Psychology, Counseling and Student Personnel Psychology, University of Minnesota, 139A Burton Hall, 178 Pillsbury Drive SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455 (e-mail: turne047@umn.edu). Next:

1: J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2005 Sep;46(9):982-94.

Comment in: Evid Based Ment Health. 2006 May;9(2):51.

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Influence of general self-efficacy on the effects of a school-based universal primary prevention program of depressive symptoms in adolescents: a randomized and controlled follow-up study.
Pssel P, Baldus C, Horn AB, Groen G, Hautzinger M.
University of Tuebingen at Tuebingen, Germany. patrick.poessel@uni-tuebingen.de

BACKGROUND: Depressive disorders in adolescents are a widespread and increasing problem. Prevention seems a promising and feasible approach. METHODS: We designed a cognitivebehavioral school-based universal primary prevention program and followed 347 eighth-grade students participating in a randomized controlled trial for three months. RESULTS: In line with our hypothesis, participants in the prevention program remained on a low level of depressive symptoms, having strong social networks. The control group showed increasing depressive symptoms and a reduced social network. Contrary to our expectations, students low in selfefficacy benefited more from the program than high self-efficient students. Social network did not mediate the relationship between participation in the prevention program and changes in depressive symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: Our results show that the prevention program had favorable effects. Further research is needed to explore the impact of self-efficacy on the effects of prevention programs.
PMID: 16109001 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Next:

The Role of Self-Efficacy and Gender Difference among the Adolescents

Rajesh Kumar and Roshan Lal Government College, Chandigarh

Self-efficacy is the individuals assessment of their capabilities to organize and execute actions required to achieve successful levels of performance (Bandura, 1986). Self-efficacy makes a difference in how people feel, think and act. In terms of feeling a low sense of selfefficacy is associated with depression, anxiety and helplessness. In terms of thinking, a strong sense of competence facilitates cognitive processes and performance in a variety of settings, including quality of decision-making and academic achievement. In terms of act, self- related cognition is a major ingredient of motivation process in comparison to low selfefficacy people. Self-efficacy levels can enhance or impede motivation. People with high self-efficacy choose to perform more challenging tasks, they set for themselves higher goals and stick to them. Actions are preshaped in thoughts, and people anticipate either optimistic or pessimistic scenarios in line with their level of self- efficacy.
The present study examined the role of self-efficacy and gender differences among the adolescents as revealed by intelligence test. A random sample of 200 students (100 Boys & 100 Girls) studying in I, II and III year of under-graduation was selected from different colleges of the city of Chandigarh. Self-efficacy scale developed by Jerusalem and Schwarzer was used to classify subjects. General Mental Ability Test developed by Jalota was used to have the dependent variable scores. Analysis of variance was applied and the F-ratio revealed significant effect of self-efficacy. Significant gender differences were also found, where female scored higher than their male counterparts. No interaction was found in self-efficacy and gender.

Bandura (1977) proposes the key sources of self-efficacy as performance accomplishments, vicarious experiences, and emotional arousal. Self-efficacy pertains to optimistic beliefs about being able to cope with a variety of stressors. Litt (1988) finds that self-efficacy expectations affect performance beyond what would have been expected from past performance alone. Changes in self-efficacy expectations predict changes in cold pressure tolerance. Self-efficacy affects behavior of the individual in different ways: First, self-efficacy influences choice of behavior. People are likely to engage in tasks in which they feel competent and confident and avoid those in

which they do not. Second, self-efficacy may help to determine how much effort people will expand on an anxiety and how long will they persevere. Third, self-efficacy beliefs influence individuals thought patterns and emotional reactions. People with low self-efficacy may believe that things are tougher than they really
Journal of the Indian Academy of Applied Psychology July 2006, Vol. 32, No. 3, 249-254.

are, a belief that may foster stress and narrow vision of how best to go about a problem. Efficacy beliefs are the foundation of human agency. Unless people believe that they can produce desired results by their actions, they have little incentive to act or to persevere in the face of difficulties. Bandura distinguishes between the two components of self-efficacy: an efficacy expectation and an outcome expectation. An outcome expectation refers to a persons belief that a given behavior will lead to a particular outcome. An efficacy expectation is the conviction that the person himself/herself can successfully produce the behavior required to generate the outcome. Intelligence constitutes the basic characteristic of human beings. The degree of intelligence is reflected by the clarity of purpose, thought and action in an individuals behavior. It involves understanding the specific situation in which the individual finds himself, and appropriately responding to it. It includes assimilation of information, processing of information, judicious selection of an alternative out of the multitude of alternatives presented, and rational decision-making. Thus, intelligence consists in acting in a given situation with use of past experience, with due regard to what is novel in the situation, and to the whole situation rather than to some striking part of it. It denotes having insight into the key to the whole situation or problem. Environment contributes to the conditions i.e., family, economic level, health, facilities, etc. which influences intelligence much more than heredity does. Flynn has reported that in the late 20th century, IQ scores have risen substantially around the world at all age levels, this rise has been interpreted in terms of the environmental factors such as rising living standards, improved diets, better educational opportunities and exposure to media. According to Goleman (1995, 1996), IQ

and EQ are not opposing competencies but rather separate ones and both are necessary for success in the workplace. IQ accounts for only about 20% of a persons success in life .The balance can be attributed to Emotional Intelligence or EQ Singh (2002) defined emotional intelligence in Indian context as, the ability of an individual to appropriately and successfully respond to a vast variety of emotional stimuli being elicited from inner self and immediate environment. Emotional intelligence constitutes three psychological dimensions such as emotional competency, emotional maturity and emotional sensitivity, which motivate an individual to recognize truthfully, interpret honestly and handle tactfully and the dynamics of human behaviour. The review of the literature suggested that selfefficacy may be an important personality variable affecting the use of intelligence test. There is a dearth of studies relating interaction effect of self-efficacy and gender on the use of intelligence test; hence the present study was undertaken. Hypotheses 1) The males score higher than the females on intelligence test. 2) High self- efficacy group scores higher on intelligence tests than the Low selfefficacy group. 3) High income group students have better intelligence scores than the low income group students. Method Sample The initial sample consisted of 350 (175 male and 175 female) students from Govt. College, Sector-46, Govt. College for Girls, Sector-11, Govt. College for Girls, Sector-42, S.D. College, Sector-32, of Chandigarh city. These students were studying in First, Second and Third year of undergraduate courses viz. B.A, B.Com, B.B.A, B.C.A, B.Sc. Their age
250 Self-Efficacy and Gender Difference

ranged from 16-18 years. The stratified random sampling technique was applied. The final sample consisted of 200 (100 male and 100 female) subjects. They were selected on the basis of their self-efficacy scores and gender. Tools Two test materials were used to collect

data. They are:1. Generalized Perceived selfefficacy scale Jerusalem and Schwarzer originally developed the German version of this scale in 1981, first as a 20-item version and later as a reduced 10-item version (Jerusalem & Schwarzer, 1992). The scale consists of 10items and four responses / choices were provided for each item i.e. (1) Not at all true, (2) Hardly true, (3) Almost true, and (4) Very true. Typical items are, Thanks to my resourcefulness, I know how to handle unforeseen situations, and when I am confronted with a problem, I can usually find several solutions. It has been used in numerous research projects, where it typically yielded internal consistencies between alpha= .75 and .91. This scale is not only parsimonious and reliable; it has also proven valid in terms of convergent and discriminate validity. 2. General Mental Ability Test: There are 100 questions in this test and the total time of completing them is 20 minutes (Jalota, 1972). This is a verbal and group test of intelligence. The questions of this test are related to seven different fields-synonyms list, antonyms list, best responses, inference, analogies, classification, and number series. There are 10-10 questions each related to first four areas and 20 questions each from the other three areas. The subject is given one mark for every correct response, then M.A. is calculated from the total score gathered, and IQ is calculated by the formula IQ=MA/CA x100. The reliability co-efficient of this test is .938. Procedure Initially, the self-efficacy scale was administered on a group of 175 male and 175 female students. A median split (Median=30) was used and those scoring above median were treated as high self-efficacy and those scoring below median were considered as low self-efficacy. 200 subjects conforming to the 2x2 (self-efficacy: High and low; sex: males and females) design were finally selected. Thus, there were 50 subjects in each cell. The subjects were then administered General Mental Ability Test (GMAT) and the statistical analysis of the data were done. Results For a 22 factorial design, F-values were calculated to see whether males and females as well as higher selfefficacy (HSE) and lower

self-efficacy (LSE) subjects differed significantly in intelligence. The means and standard deviations of the scores for intelligence are given in Table-1. Table 1: Means and Standard Deviation for Intelligence. Intelligence Mean (M) Standard Deviation (SD) High Self-Efficacy (A1) 102.527 58.136 Low Self-Efficacy (A2) 94.765 53.735 Males (B1) 95.74 54.288 Females (B2) 101.552 57.584 High Self-Efficacy Males (A1B1) 100.83 57.174 Low Self-Efficacy Males (A2B1) 90.65 51.402
Rajesh Kumar and Roshan Lal 251

High Self-Efficacy Females (A1B2) 104.225 59.099 Low Self-Efficacy Females (A2B2) 98.88 56.068 Analysis of variance revealed that significant gender differences were found in intelligence, F (1, 76) = 16.65, p< .01 (Table 2). At this level the females scored higher than the males. This disproves the prediction that males have better intelligence than their female counterparts. A significant effect of self-efficacy was also found, F (1, 76) = 9.34, p< .01 Table 1 show that high self-efficacy group scored higher than the low self efficacy group. No significant interaction effect of self-efficacy and gender was found in intelligence. Discussion The purpose of this study was to examine the function of self-efficacy and gender differences as revealed in the intelligence test. Results show significant gender differences in intelligence, females have scored higher than their male counterparts. This disproves the hypothesis that males score higher than females. This may be due to our social norms and family restrictions, females are not much exposed to the outside environment and they do not direct their feelings and devote maximum time to indoor activities and intellectual pursuits. Though the males seem to be careless and inconsistent in their studies, it cannot be established that they are less intelligent than the females. This could be due to the different variables controlling their behavioral pattern. They often share the burden of the family and remain preoccupied with different assignments. That may have a negative bearing on the performance of the males in comparison to the females who, generally, remain confined to their homes. Intelligent persons can better understand how the outcomes are related to their own

behavior. Their sharper intellectual skills seem to have facilitated their understanding of the behavior outcome linkage. And intelligent person would understand why he/she was doing well in studies (It could be due to hard work, unending efforts, patience, interest, motivation, etc). Thus, intelligent persons seem to show a deeper understanding of the causes of success and failure outcomes, and have greater probability of displaying desirable behavioral acts and giving up undesirable ones to achieve important goals. The less intelligent students are liable to have less sharp cognitive and analytical skills, and they perhaps, would not appropriately understand the contingency between the behavior and outcomes. Also, less intelligent students do not display high levels of autonomy in their behavior. Since, they are unsure of their capacities and performance, they tend to depend more on others for guidance, eventually, this may form an integrated part of their motivational make-up, and they may end up doing a task not for the sake of itself, but due to other reasons such as obeying rules, gaining adult approval, avoiding negative consequences, guilt, anxiety, and the like. Ellis (1965) has remarked that difference in achievement levels is due to difference in intelligence quotient and is associated with mental age. Intelligence has been found to be moderately related to IAR (Intellectual Achievement Responsibility) (Crandall, Katkovsky & Crandall, 1965) a construct related to locus of control. It seems that intelligent children would tend to assume greater responsibility for their intellectual achievements as compared to less intelligent or dull children. Consequently, they shall more readily see their success and failure in an objective manner. Kagan and Freeman (1963) found that in case of boys, the only consistent correlate of high intelligence in childhood is involvement
252 Self-Efficacy and Gender Difference

in intellectual mastery during adolescence. For girls, intelligence was found to predict several variables of period of adolescence including concern with intellectual competence. Moreover, intelligence may be related to intrinsic motivation, and this, in turn, may be related to such motivational resources

as considered in the present context (Deci & Ryan, 1993). The result of present study show that the high self-efficacy (HSE) group scored better on intelligence test than the low self-efficacy (LSE) group. Here, the hypothesis No. 2 has been proved that high self-efficacy (HSE) group scores higher on intelligence test than the low self- efficacy (LSE) group. High selfefficacy (HSE) subjects are more confident about their potentialities. They take the stressful situations as challenging and believe in their achieving abilities thereby increase their efforts to cope with them as compared to the low self-efficacy (LSE) subjects (Bandura, 1986; Podsakoff & Farh; 1989). Individuals of high self-efficacy (HSE) group are to experience feelings of satisfaction, competence, persistence and control (Baron, 1998; Kloosterman, 1997; Wassertein, 1995). Payne (2000) in a recent study also found that a relationship exists between general selfefficacy and physical aggression. The High self-efficacy (HSE) group has the capacity to use the intellectual efforts in more creative tasks and always tries to explore new horizons of success. They prove to be helpful, graceful, energetic, aesthetic, and optimistic, do not easily loose their temperament and adjust with the environment as per the demand. Low self-efficacy (LSE) group scored less on the intelligent test and the individuals of this group may use reversal in denial or repression against the people or event. If the peoples attitude toward the low intelligent individual is cold, abusive, and inconsistent, it lays foundation for the individual to develop a sense of basic hostility toward the people. The High self-efficacy (HSE) group, in spite of having the potentiality to face stressful situation, often cannot openly express its anger or hostility for the fear of the powerful people or situations and therefore they repress their feelings. On the other hand, the low self efficacy (LSE) and less intelligent group used reaction formation against the frustrating situations, self-assured and able to compensate inferiority feelings, showed adventurous and risk taking behavior to cope up with the stressful situation. Selfefficacy expectancies refer to personal action control and this can do cognition mirrors a sense of control over ones environment. It reflects the belief of being able to control

challenging environmental demands by taking adaptive action. The subjects were also studied according to their economic parameters. On the basis of their family income, they can be grouped into the high-income and low-income categories. However, it was seen that with all the facilities available, the high-income group students are not necessarily better in intelligence than the low-income group students who can outscore them in studies and in day-to-day life. In the present study no significant interaction effect of gender and self-efficacy was found. References
Bandura, A. (1986). Social foundations of thoughts and action: A social cognitive theory, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall. Bandura, A. (1977). Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychological Review, 84, 191-215. Baron, J. (1998). Using learner centered assessment on a large scale. In N. Lambert and B.McCombs (Eds.). How students learn: Reforming schools through learner centered education (pp. 211-240). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. Crandall, V.C., Katkovsky, W.J., & Crandall, V.J. (1965). Childrens beliefs in their own control of reinforcements in intellectual- academic achievement situations. Child Development, 36, 91-109.
Rajesh Kumar and Roshan Lal 253

Deci, E.L., & Ryan, R.M. (1993). The initiation & regulation of intrinsically motivated learning and achievement. Psychological Abstracts, 80, 32836. Ellis, R.S. (1965). Educational psychology. New Delhi: Affiliated East-West Press. Goleman, D. (1995a) Emotional intelligence. New York: Bantan Books. Goleman, D.(1996). Emotional Intelligence: Why it can matter more than I.Q. New York: Bantan Books. Jerusalem, M., & Schwarcer, R. (1992). Selfefficacy as a resource factor in stress appraisal process. In R. Schwarcer (Ed.), Self-efficacy: Thought control of action (pp 195-211). Washington, D.C.: Hemisphere. Kloosterman, P. (1997). Assessing student motivation in high school mathematics. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Education Research Association, Chicago. Kagan, J., & Freeman, M. (1963). Relation of childhood intelligence, material behaviors, social class to behavior during adolescence. Child Development, 34, 899-911. Litt, M.D. (1988). Self-Efficacy and perceived

control: Cognitive mediators of pain tolerance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54, 149-160. Payne, C. A. (2000). General Self-efficacy, fear of powerlessness, and physical aggression. Dissertation Abstracts International, 61, 897898-A. Podsakoff, P.M., & Farh, J. (1989). Effects of Feedback sign and credibility on goal setting and task performance. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 44, 45-67. Singh, D.(2001). Emotional intelligence at work: A professional guide. New Delhi: Response Books. Sternberg, R. J. (1985). Intelligence applied. San diego H.B.I. Wasserstein, P. (1990). What middle scholars say about their schoolwork? Educational Leadership, 53, 41-43.

Rajesh Kumar, is presently Lecturer and Head in the Department of Psychology, Government College, Sector-46, Chandigarh Roshan Lal, is Lecturer in the Department of Psychology, Government College, Sector-46, Chandigarh
254 Self-Efficacy and Gender Difference

Received: October 13, 2005 Accepted: June 20, 2006

Pakistan Journal of Psychological Research (PJPR)

Invites original contributions based on empirical research from third world countries for publication in PJPR. For further details please contact: Dr. Naeen Tariq National Institute of Psychology Editor & Quid-I-Azam University Director NIP Islamabad Pakistan Next:
EJ690186 - Moder
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This study investigated whether self-efficacy beliefs measured before the onset of social change would moderate effects of social change on adolescents' life satisfaction, optimism regarding their future, and educational success. Self-efficacy beliefs of 593 German adolescents were measured between 1985 and 1988 before German unification. In 1992, perceived social change due to unification and outcome variables was assessed. Higher levels of perceived negative social change and lower levels of prior selfefficacy predicted lower levels of life satisfaction and less optimism regarding one's future after German unification in 1992. In addition, we found that higher self-efficacy buffers negative effects of unification-based change on both psychological outcome variables. However, no interaction effect between perceived social change and self-efficacy was found on the probability of attending the highest school track in 1992.

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Self-Efficacy in Adolescents Who Have Siblings With or Without Disabilities Issn: 0895-8017 Journal: American Journal on Mental Retardation Volume: 107 Issue: 2 Pages: 79-90 Authors: O'Kane Grissom, Maureen, Borkowski, John G. Article ID: 10.1352/0895-8017(2002)107<0079:SEIAWH>2.0.CO;2

Abstract
Fifty-four adolescents (27 with and 27 without a sibling who had a disability) were contrasted on levels of self-efficacy. Adolescents completed questionnaires measuring

self-efficacy, peer competence, and maternal attitudes toward and modeling of prosocial and empathic behavior. None of the adolescent measures differed significantly between those whose siblings did or did not have disabilities. Females evidenced higher levels of self-efficacy than did males, regardless of sibling's disability status. For adolescents with siblings who did not have disabilities, interpersonal competence was significantly related to self-efficacy. For adolescents whose siblings had disabilities, interpersonal competence and maternal attitudes and modeling were significantly related to self-efficacy. Process-oriented variables associated with self-efficacy were identified and could become targets for intervention efforts to influence this positive set of beliefs in adolescents. Next:

The importance of self-efficacy

Tom Creer, PhD February 22, 2007

Discussion (0)

When we have self-efficacy, we believe we can control events that affect our lives. Self-efficacy determines how we feel, think, and behave. It plays a big role in our successfully managing a chronic illness over time and across situations. Selfefficacy makes us feel better about ourselves, more powerful, and in control. Patients who believe in their ability to control their illness look at tasks as challenges to be mastered rather than as threats to be avoided. If we have self-efficacy beliefs, we view medical instructions as something we understand and can carry out. If we have self-efficacy, we take a greater interest and are more involved in these and other activities that help us to manage our condition. We set goals and stay committed to them; we are also less likely to give up if we make mistakes. We bounce back from failure to recover a sense of being able to do whatever task we did poorly. We may blame failures on ourselves for either not doing the things we should or not knowing how to take care of ourselves. But if we believe that we can overcome challenges and our own weaknesses, we have confidence that we can eventually succeed. When we don't give up, we begin to feel a sense of our own power. We start to realize that we need to be in control of our own health and, at the same time, that our illness does not control us. There are too many other things to do with our lives than to surrender them to an illness. We need to believe that we are controlling our illness, not that our illness is controlling us. Sources of self-efficacy

You may be wondering: How do I develop self-efficacy? Albert Bandura found there were four ways to do so. A. The best way of creating a sense of efficacy is through mastery experiences. Successes build a belief in your personal efficacy. Failures undermine it, especially if they occur before we have established a sense of efficacy. If we only experience easy successes, we may come to expect quick results and be discouraged by failure. A strong sense of efficacy requires experience in overcoming obstacles by being persistent. Some setbacks and difficulties in our performance serve a useful purpose by teaching us that success usually requires sustained effort. After we become convinced that we have what it takes to succeed, we persevere in the face of adversity and rebound from setbacks. By sticking it out through tough times, we become stronger.

B. The second way of creating and strengthening self-efficacy is through observing others. Seeing people like ourselves succeed raises our beliefs that we too possess the capabilities to master similar activities. By the same token, watching others fail despite their high effort lowers our judgments of our own efficacy; this, in turn, can undermine our efforts. The impact of modeling on perceived self-efficacy is strongly influenced if we see the model as similar to us. The greater the similarity between models and ourselves, the more persuasive their successes and failures are to us. If we see models as different from ourselves, on the other hand, our self-efficacy is less influenced by their behavior and the results it produces. Modeling influences do more than provide us a standard against which to judge our own capabilities. We seek models that possess the competencies to which we aspire to perform. Through their behavior and expressed ways of thinking, competent models transmit knowledge and teach us effective skills and strategies for managing our environment. C. Social persuasion is a third way of strengthening our beliefs that we have what it takes to succeed. People who can verbally persuade themselves that they have the capabilities to master given activities are likely to mobilize and sustain greater effort than if they have self-doubts and dwell on personal deficiencies. To the extent that persuasion leads us to try to succeed, it promotes the development of skills and a sense of personal efficacy. It is more difficult for us to gain beliefs of personal efficacy by social persuasion alone than it is to for us to lose it. Unrealistic boosts in self-efficacy, for example, are quickly shot down by if we are disappointed by the results of our efforts. People who have been persuaded that they lack capabilities tend to avoid challenging activities that cultivate potential and give up in the face of difficulties. By limiting activities and undermining motivation, a lack of belief in our own capabilities keeps us from moving forward. People with self-efficacy do more than look positively at the outcome of their efforts. In addition to raising beliefs in their capabilities, they structure situations for themselves in ways that bring success; they also avoid being placed prematurely in situations where they are likely to fail. In the long run, we measure success in terms of our self-improvement rather than by triumphing over others.

D. We also rely partly on our gut feelings and emotional states in judging our capabilities. We may interpret stress reactions and tension as signs that we will perform poorly. In activities involving strength and stamina, we judge fatigue, aches, and pains as signs of physical weakness. Mood also affects our judgments of personal efficacy in that positive moods increases self-efficacy while negative moods decreases it. Thus, the fourth way of modifying self-efficacy is to reduce stress reactions and alter negative emotional feelings. It is not the sheer intensity of emotional and physical reactions that is important but rather how we look at and interpret them. People with a high sense of efficacy are likely to view arousal as a facilitator of performance, whereas those with self- doubts regard arousal as interfering with their performance. Physical indicators of efficacy play an important role in how we manage our health and illnesses. Processes of self-efficacy

Bandura described the four psychological processes through with self-efficacy affect our daily functions. A. Cognitive Processes. The effects of self-efficacy on cognitive processes take a variety of forms. We control much of our behavior by thinking beforehand about the goals we wish to pursue. Personal goal setting, in turn, is influenced by how we look at our abilities to reach these goals. The stronger our self-efficacy, the higher the goals we can set for ourselves and the stronger the commitment we have to reach them. We attempt to think through most of the courses of action we take before we perform them. Our beliefs in our efficacy shape the types of thoughts we construct and rehearse. People who have a high sense of efficacy can visualize events they think will occur; these thoughts provide guides and support for their later performance. Those who doubt their efficacy tend to visualize failures and dwell on things that can go wrong. It is difficult to achieve much while fighting self-doubt. A major role of thought is to help us predict events and develop ways to control those that affect our lives. Effective skills require us to deal with processing information that may contain

ambiguities and uncertainties. In learning rules to help us predict and regulate our behavior, we draw on our knowledge to consider options, to weight and fuse predictive factors, to test and revise our judgments against immediate and long-term results of our actions, and to remember which tactics we have tested and how well they worked. It requires strong selfefficacy to remain on task in the face of demands, and the failures and setbacks that have significant results for us. When we are faced with the tasks of managing difficult environmental demands under trying circumstances and beset by doubts about our self-efficacy, we may become unable to think clearly, limit our goals and, as a result, see our performance go to pieces. In contrast, those who maintain a strong sense of efficacy think clearly and set challenging goals for themselves. As a result, they are more apt to achieve the goals they have set.

B. Motivational processes. Beliefs of self-efficacy play a key role in how we regulate motivation. We generate most of our motivation by thinking through how we are going to guide our actions. People form beliefs about what they can do and anticipate the likely outcomes of their actions. We set goals for ourselves and plan the actions required to reach them. Bandura recognized three different ways by which we use thought to motivate ourselves. The first is attribution theory, or how we explain events to ourselves; the second is outcome expectancies, or what we think will happen if we perform a given action in a given situation; and the final is goal theory, or the goals we set for ourselves. Self-efficacy helps us to use these three factors to motivate ourselves. Attribution theory, for example, affects our motivation, performance, and reaction to our performance mainly through self-efficacy. If we think our actions will lead to a positive outcome, we will perform the actions; if they think they will result in failure, we may wonder, Why bother? With outcome expectations, motivation occurs through the anticipation that a given course of behavior will produce certain outcomes. People act on their beliefs about what they can do, as well as on their beliefs about the likely outcomes of their performance. The motivating influence of outcome expectancies is thus partly governed by self-efficacy. The ability to set goals for ourselves is the final mechanism of motivation. A body of evidence shows that explicit, challenging goals enhance and sustain motivation. Goals operate largely through the influence they have on us rather than how they directly regulate motivation and action. Motivation based on goal setting involves a comparison process. By making their satisfaction conditional on matching their goals, people give direction to their behavior and create incentives to persist in their efforts until they reach their goals. They seek satisfaction by fulfilling goals and are prompted to intensify their efforts if unhappy with substandard performances. Three types of influences that we control govern motivation based on goals or personal standards. These include satisfying and unsatisfying reactions to our performance, self-efficacy for goal attainment, and adjustment of personal goals based on our progress. Self-efficacy contributes to motivation in several ways: They determine the goals we set for ourselves; how much effort we expend; how long we persist in the face of difficulties; and our resilience to failures. When faced with obstacles and failures, people who have self-doubts about their capabilities slacken their efforts or give up quickly. Those who have a strong belief in their capabilities exert greater effort when they fail to master the challenge. Hence, strong perseverance C. contributes to Affective performance accomplishments. Processes

Our beliefs in our abilities to cope affect how much stress and depression we experience in threatening or difficult situations, as well as our level of motivation. Perceived self-efficacy to control stress plays a central role in anxiety arousal. People who believe they can control threats do not stir up disturbing thought patterns, while those who believe they cant manage threats experience high anxiety arousal. They dwell on their deficiencies in coping and view many aspects of their environment as dangerous. They magnify the severity of possible threats and worry about things that rarely happen. Through such thinking, they upset themselves and impair their level of functioning. Perceived coping self-efficacy regulates avoidance behavior as well as anxiety arousal. The stronger their self-efficacy, the bolder people are in taking on difficult and threatening activities.

Anxiety is affected not only by perceived coping efficacy but also by your perceived efficacy to control disturbing thoughts. Bandura suggests that the exercise of control over our own consciousness is summed up well in the proverb: "You cannot prevent the birds of worry and care from flying over your head, but you can stop them from building a nest in your head." Perceived self-efficacy to control thought processes is a key factor in regulating how our thoughts produce stress and depression. It is not the sheer frequency of disturbing thoughts but the perceived inability to turn them off that is the major source of distress. Both perceived coping self-efficacy and the ability to control thought operate together to reduce anxiety and avoidant behavior.

Social cognitive theory prescribes mastery experiences as the principal means of personality change. Guided mastery is a powerful way to instill a robust sense of coping efficacy in people whose functioning is seriously impaired by intense apprehension and fearful self-protective reactions. Mastery experiences are structured in ways to build coping skills and induce beliefs that one can control potential threats. One must create an environment so that highly fearful and incapacitated people can perform successfully despite themselves. This can be achieved by using a variety of performance mastery aids. Feared activities are first modeled to show people how to cope with threats and eliminate their worst fears. Coping tasks are then broken down into subtasks of easily mastered steps. Performing feared activities together with others further enables highly fearful people to do things they would resist doing by themselves. Another way of overcoming resistance is to begin with being in the presence of stressors for short periods of time. Fearful people will refuse threatening tasks if they will have to endure stress for a long time, but will risk these tasks for a short period. As coping efficacy increases, the time they perform the activity can be gradually extended. Protective aids and the gradual presentation of the severity of threats also help to restore and develop a sense of coping efficacy. After functioning is fully restored, mastery aids can be withdrawn to show that coping successes stem from personal efficacy rather than from the aids. Self-directed mastery experiences, designed to test coping capabilities, can then be arranged to strengthen and generalize the sense of coping efficacy. Once people develop a resilient sense of efficacy, they can withstand difficulties and adversity. Guided mastery treatment of this kind can achieve widespread psychological changes in a relatively short time. It eliminates fearful behavior, anxiety and biological stress reactions, creates positive attitudes, and reduces fearful thoughts and nightmares. A low sense of efficacy to exercise control produces depression, as well as anxiety, in several different ways. One route to depression, for example, occurs by failure to reach our goals. People who impose unrealistic standards of self-worth on themselves can drive themselves into bouts of depression. A second efficacy route to depression is through a low sense of social efficacy. People who judge themselves as socially competent seek out and cultivate social relationships that provide experience to manage difficult situations, cushion the adverse effects of chronic stress, and bring satisfaction to their lives. People who think they lack the social skills to develop satisfying and supportive relationships increase their likelihood of depression through social isolation. We generate much of our depressive feelings by repeatedly focusing on negative thoughts. A low sense of efficacy to control these kinds of thoughts also contributes to the occurrence, duration, and recurrence of depressive episodes. Other processes activated by self-efficacy affect the impact of coping self-efficacy on biological systems that control our health. Stress has been implicated as an important contributing factor to many physical conditions. Being able to control stress appears to be a key organizing principle regarding the nature these stressors have on our health. It is not stressful life conditions per se, but our perceived inability to manage them that can be harmful; however, exposure to stressors with the ability to control them has no adverse biological effects. The inability to control stress may, in particular, impair the immune system. The impairment of immune function increases susceptibility to infection, contributes to the development of physical disorders, and accelerates the progression of disease. Biological systems are highly interdependent. A weak sense of self-efficacy to exercise control over stress activates a number of biological systems involved in the regulation of the immune system. Stress activated in the process of acquiring

coping skills may have different effects than the stress we experience in aversive situations with no prospect of gaining any self-protective efficacy. There are substantial evolutionary benefits to experiencing improved immune function during the development of coping capabilities vital for effective adaptation. It would not be advantageous if acute stressors always impaired immune function because of their prevalence in everyday life. If this were the case, people would experience high vulnerability to infective agents that could quickly do them in. There is some evidence that providing people with effective means for managing stress, however, may have a positive effect on immune function. Moreover, stress aroused while gaining coping mastery over stressors can improve different components of the immune system. There are other ways in which perceived self-efficacy serves to promote health. Lifestyle habits can enhance or impair health. Positive habits enable us to exert behavioral influence over the vitality and quality of our health. Perceived self-efficacy affects every phase of personal change including whether people even consider changing their health habits; whether they enlist the motivation and perseverance needed to succeed should they choose to do so; and how well they maintain the habit changes they have achieved. The stronger their perceived self-efficacy, the more successful people are in reducing harmful health habits and including health-promoting habits into their regular lifestyle.

We provide this description of self-efficacy because in our research, we have found that it is key ingredient in whether or not people learn and perform self-management skills to control a chronic illness. Our experience has shown that up to seven years after being in a self-management program for asthma, patients thought that self-efficacy was the secret of their being able to manage their condition. Their experiences far exceeded any expectations we had of the program. More importantly, however, patients believed they were in control of their illness much more than their illness controlled them. The above description of self-efficacy was adapted by a discussion in Bandura, A. (1994). Self-efficacy. In V. S. Ramachaudran (Ed.), Encyclopedia of human behavior (Vol. 4, pp. 71-81). New York: Academic Press. (Reprinted in H. Friedman [Ed.], Encyclopedia of mental health. San Diego: Academic Press, 1998). More writings on self-efficacy and social cognitive theory by Professor Bandura and others can be found at the following site: www.des.emory/mpf/selfefficacy.html

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Self-Image and Perceived Self-Efficacy during Adolescence

Journal article by Dario Bacchini, Fabrizia Magliulo; Journal of Youth and Adolescence, Vol. 32, 2003

Journal Article Excerpt

Self-image and perceived self-efficacy during adolescence.

by Dario Bacchini , Fabrizia Magliulo INTRODUCTION Recent Approaches to the Study of Adolescence

The research carried out in recent years on adolescence has been the scene of a profound paradigmatic change. This has led researchers to abandon the stage-oriented model of study, where adolescence is represented as a period marked by relatively invariable phases of development, and to adopt a process-oriented model (Petersen et al., 1996), where emphasis is placed on the study of interactions between individual and context. The concept of "adolescent crisis" has also been reconsidered not only as a risk factor but also as a protection factor since it represents an opportunity to strengthen the individual's ability to cope with future stressful situations (Rutter, 1980; Rutter and Rutter, 1992). Many "traditionally held" ideas about adolescence have been abandoned: there are now numerous empirical studies which reveal that most children go through adolescence successfully without experiencing significant traumas, an indication of relative well-being (Bandura, 1964; Douvan and Adelson, 1966; Offer et al., 1989a; Offer and Schonert-Reichl, 1992; Petersen, 1988; Rutter et al., 1976); the "continuity" of this transitional phase is revealed especially in the relationship with the family towards which, to a greater extent than in the past, adolescents feel it is important to maintain good relations (Lanz et al., 1999). To conclude, the rapid and profound socio cultural changes that have taken place in recent times seem to be reflected particularly vividly in adolescence and, to paraphrase Kagan (1998), the seductive ideas about development prove in this case to be c... Next:
Title: Effects of attribution based verbal persuasion and imagery on self-efficacy of adolescents diagnosed with major depression. Personal Authors: Ellis, G. D., Maughan-Pritchett, M., Ruddell, E. J. Author Affiliation: Editors: No editors Document Title: Therapeutic Recreation Journal Abstract: A growing body of literature points to the importance and benefits of individuals maintaining a sense of personal capability and control with respect to their recreation and leisure pursuits. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of attribution based verbal persuasion and guided mental imagery on self-efficacy judgments, outcome judgments, generality of efficacy judgments, and performance of adolescent psychiatric patients playing a video game. Research participants were 90 adolescents who were in-patients at a psychiatric hospital. An independent groups, 3 3 experimental design was used. The levels of the verbal persuasion variable were (a) persuasion designed to promote internal and stable attributions, (b) ambiguous persuasion designed to yield external and unstable attributions, and (c) no persuasion. The imagery variable included (a) imagery of a successful experience, (b) imagery of a failure experience, and (c) no imagery conditions. Dependent variables were measures of self-efficacy judgments, outcome judgments, generality of efficacy judgments, persistence at the task, and game score. Analysis of variance results revealed that research participants in the internal persuasion condition had significantly higher scores on the collection of dependent variables, as compared to the other persuasion groups. Evidence of an effect of success imagery on level of self-efficacy was also present.

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International Journal of Communication 3 (2009), 607-634 1932-8036/20090607 Copyright 2009 (Joyee S. Chatterjee, Anurudra Bhanot, Lauren B. Frank, Sheila T. Murphy, & Gerry Power). Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives (by-nc-nd). Available at http://ijoc.org.

The Importance of Interpersonal Discussion and Self-Efficacy in Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice Models
JOYEE S. CHATTERJEE
University of Southern California

ANURUDRA BHANOT LAUREN B. FRANK

BBC World Service Trust University of Southern California

SHEILA T. MURPHY GERRY POWER

University of Southern California BBC World Service Trust

This study contributes to the theoretical discussions about the influence of educationentertainment programming on consumers of the genre. Data from the end-line evaluation of an EE program produced by the BBC World Service Trust in India, Jasoos (Detective) Vijay, is used. The analysis focused on 834 sexually active young men, the key demographic target audience for the program. Using structural equation modeling techniques, an initial knowledge, attitudes, and practices model is examined. Adding self-efficacy and interpersonal discussion improve this model. Not only is interpersonal discussion important, but the target others with whom that discussion occurs are also important for predicting behavioral change. Implications for EE theory and programs are explored. Recent studies estimate that between 2 and 3.1 million adults in India are infected with HIV (International Institute for Population Sciences & Macro International, 2007). The National Family Health Joyee S. Chatterjee: jchatter@usc.edu Anurudra Bhanot: andy.bhanot@bbcwst.org Lauren B. Frank: lfrank@usc.edu Sheila T. Murphy: smurphy@usc.edu Gerry Power: gerry.power@bbc.co.uk Date submitted: 2008-11-11 608 Chatterjee, Bhanot, Frank, Murphy & Power International Journal of Communication 3(2009) Survey (NFHS-3), which tested more than 100,000 people, found the prevalence to be higher in urban areas (0.35%) than in rural areas (0.25%) (ibid.). The survey also found that more men are HIV positive than women, and that the majority of cases were in younger as opposed to older individuals. Taken together, these three parameters describe the demographic at highest risk for contracting HIV in India, namely young, urban males (ibid.). In response to the growing numbers of HIV cases in India, the BBC World Service Trust developed an entertainment education program Jasoos Vijay, a fast-paced, high production value detective show as part of a larger HIV and AIDS- awareness multi-media campaign. The main character, Jasoos Vijay, was created to appeal to the primary target audience of sexually active men between 18 and 34 years of age. This study examines the relationship between exposure to an entertainment education (EE) program and the processes by which it produces knowledge, attitude, and behavioral effects. This triad of measures is often referred to as the KAP model and is frequently employed to assess the impact of health care interventions. In addition to these traditional measures, the current study explores the possible roles that both self-efficacy and interpersonal discussion might play in

changing HIV/AIDS-related behavior among sexually active young men in India. Cultural Context of HIV/AIDS in India One of the key communication challenges of HIV/AIDS-related campaigns in India is the taboo nature of the issue, especially given the associated sexual, social, and moral underpinnings. Traditionally, social and religious beliefs have played a strong role in keeping public discourse on issues of sexuality at a minimum. Even today in many Indian communities, particularly in the semi-urban and rural areas, there is a culture of silence surrounding open or direct discussions of sexual matters and sexual health (Bhattacharya, 2004; Roth, Krishnan, & Bunch, 2001; Singhal & Vasanti, 2005). As Bhattacharya (2004) points out, To change the environment surrounding HIV/AIDS issues, it is critical to break the silence. Discussion on topics such as sex, sexuality, and sexual behavior issues . . . are still taboo in India. The norm of not discussing personal sexual behavior and the inability to connect personal risk to HIV are considered two barriers to initiating open and honest discussions. (p. 112) The authors wish to acknowledge the support of their respective institutions and colleagues who provided valuable support through various stages of this paper, particularly Sonal T. Chaudhuri at BBC WST and Janel Schuh, Charlotte Lapsansky & Hua Wang at USC Annenberg. We especially thank the two anonymous reviewers whose comments and insights helped enhance the paper. Thanks also to Larry Gross, Arlene Luck and the editorial staff at the International Journal of Communication. International Journal of Communication 3 (2009) The Importance of Interpersonal Discussion 609 Research on the sexual and reproductive behavior of adolescents and young adults in India indicates that unprotected, premarital sexual activity begins relatively early (Joshi, Dhapola, & Pelto, 2004). At the same time, discussion with family members of sexuality-related topics is uncommon, a problem further compounded by a lack of formal sex education infrastructure in schools and colleges (Verma, Pelto, Schensul, & Joshi, 2004). Older relatives and extended family members are highly respected, and they routinely play gatekeeper roles on varying aspects of family and community life. They often provide both informational and instructional support concerning social norms and family relationships to the younger family members . . . who happen to be in the age group most vulnerable to HIV/AIDS (Bhattacharya, 2004, p. 112). Thus, it is plausible that, given the right impetus, existing interpersonal social networks could prove to be an invaluable asset in outreach to young, at-risk populations (Bhattacharya, 2004). Nor is this culture of silence on discussion of sex and/or sexual health the only communication barrier. Prevalent gender norms are skewed such that (among heterosexual couples) men, and not women, are the ones with the power to initiate discussions and implement decisions regarding sexual matters (Ramakrishna, Pelto, Verma, Schensul & Joshi, 2004; Roth, Krishnan, & Bunch, 2001; Sivaram et al., 2004). These studies point to the need to target health campaigns for men, highlighting their role as decision makers not only for their own health, but also for that of their sexual partners. Thus, as Roth, Krishnan, and Bunch (2001) note, to prevent HIV/AIDS in India, men's participation appears to be a promising strategy that needs to complement those [campaigns] that focus on helping women and raising their status and income in Indian society (p. 74). Entertainment Education Entertainment education (EE) is the process of purposely designing and implementing a media message that both entertains and educates, in order to increase audience members knowledge about a particular issue, create favorable attitudes, shift social norms, and change overt behavior. The purpose of EE is to contribute to the process of directed social change, whether at the level of the individual, community, or society (Singhal & Rogers, 1999, 2002). In general, exposure to EE programs has been shown to effect changes in audience members knowledge, attitude, and behavior on the issue being promoted (Papa et al., 2000; Rogers et al., 1999; Valente et al., 2007; Valente, Kim, Lettenmaier, Glass, & Dibba, 1994; Wilkin et al., 2007). However, it is worth noting that the degree, intensity, and scope of EE effects have varied dramatically. For instance, Yoder, Hornik, and Chirwa (1996) found that controlling for other variables, simple exposure to an EE program had little impact on knowledge and behavioral change in the target population. In contrast, Valente and Saba (2001) found that while exposure to and interpersonal communication encouraged by a campaign significantly impacted knowledge and behavior, they did not impact attitudes. Our first set of hypotheses tests the effect of exposure to Jasoos Vijay on the HIV/AIDS-related knowledge, attitudes, and behavior of the target population.1 1 Knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors were self-reported in the survey data. 610 Chatterjee, Bhanot, Frank, Murphy & Power International Journal of Communication 3(2009) H1a: Exposure to JV predicts increased HIV/AIDS-related knowledge. H1b: Exposure to JV predicts more positive HIV/AIDS-related attitudes. H1c: Exposure to JV predicts increased HIV/AIDS-prevention behavior (practices). The Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice Model Evaluations of EE interventions have traditionally focused on the KAP model the link between an individuals knowledge, attitudes, & practices to understand the process of behavioral and social change (Singhal, Rao, & Pant, 2006; Singhal & Rogers, 1999). Although various researchers have proposed different existing theoretical models of the knowledge-attitude-practice relationship, the most

frequently applied ordering of the KAP variables is the cognitive model (Valente, Parades, & Poppe, 1998). This theoretical model argues that individuals first learn about a practice, then develop a positive attitude toward it, and after passing through these stages, engage in the behavior (p. 368). The present research tests the traditional KAP model (see Figure 1 for a depiction of hypothesized paths) on young, sexually active male viewers2 of Jasoos Vijay. Specifically, we predict: H2: HIV/AIDS-related knowledge predicts more positive attitudes toward HIV/AIDS. H3: HIV/AIDS-related attitudes predict increased HIV/AIDS prevention behavior. Figure 1. Hypothesized Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices Model. Self-Efficacy Other recent models of behavioral change have incorporated additional key constructs. The most common addition is Banduras (1977) concept of self-efficacy that has been integrated into Ajzens (1985) Theory of Planned Behavior; Rosenstock, Strecher, and Beckers (1988) Health Belief Model; and Fishbein and Cappellas (2006) Integrated Model of Behavioral Prediction. Self-efficacy refers to an individuals assessment of his or her own ability to perform a particular behavior (Bandura, 1977). Bandura argues that self-efficacy is one of the most important prerequisites of behavior. Prior research indicates that 2 Young, sexually active male viewers were between 18 and 34 years old and reported having engaged in sexual intercourse.

Exposure Knowledge Attitude Behavior H1a H1b H1c H2 H3

International Journal of Communication 3 (2009) The Importance of Interpersonal Discussion 611 individuals with low self-efficacy who are not confident in their ability to perform a particular behavior tend to either not try to perform the behavior in question, or to give up easily when facing adversity (Bandura & Schunk, 1981). The concept of self-efficacy has been explored in EE contexts previously. In Tanzania, exposure to a dramatic EE program increased viewers beliefs that they could reduce their risk of contracting HIV/AIDS (Bandura, 2004). Self-efficacy may play a pivotal role in translating HIV/AIDS-relevant knowledge and attitudes into actual prevention behavior, such as using condoms, limiting ones sex partners, getting tested for HIV/AIDS, avoiding shared needles, etc. Therefore, we add the following research question: RQ1. Does perceived self-efficacy with respect to HIV/AIDS prevention measures influence the relationship between exposure and knowledge, attitudes, and behavior? Role of Interpersonal Discussion Research from the past two decades on EE has repeatedly found that programs that spark interpersonal discussion are more likely to promote behavioral change (Papa & Singhal, 2008; Singhal & Rogers, 2002). This relationship has been especially relevant when considering discussion of sensitive or taboo topics. Studies across various cultures have found EE programming to be effective in provoking discussion and dialogue within the family especially when related to sexual behavior (Rogers et al., 1999), domestic violence (Usdin, Singhal, Shongwe, Goldstein, & Shabalala, 2004), and family planning (Valente et al., 1994). For example, a study conducted by Valente et al. (1994) in Gambia found that a radio drama encouraged couples and families to talk about family planning. When interpersonal discussion occurs, it can substantially influence subsequent behavior. An investigation into the role of interpersonal communication in promoting behavioral change was done by the team investigating the impact of the radio drama "Twende na Wakati" in Tanzania in the 1990s (Rogers et al., 1999). Their analysis found that one of the main processes through which the soap opera changed Tanzanian listeners' family planning behavior was by stimulating interpersonal communication about the subject (p. 208). Interpersonal village networks proved to be extremely important in circulating crucial information about contraceptives. Similar findings on the impact of interpersonal communication have also been reported from studies on family planning campaigns in Nepal (Sharan & Valente, 2002; Storey, Boulay, Karki, Heckert, & Karmacharya, 1999). Additionally, investigations from two mass media campaigns on reproductive health in Bolivia (Valente & Saba, 2001) found that exposure and interpersonal communication were associated with changes in knowledge and contraceptive use. A detailed case study of the impact of a radio drama Tinka Tinka Sukh on a village in India (Lutsaan) by Papa et al. (2000) also emphasized the impact that discussion can have on collective efficacy. Conversations about the educational content of a media program can create a socially constructed learning environment in which people evaluate previously held ideas, consider options, and identify steps to initiate social change (p. 50). Interpersonal communication was found to increase the villagers sense of collective efficacy and to lead to community action, as individuals came to believe that

612 Chatterjee, Bhanot, Frank, Murphy & Power International Journal of Communication 3(2009) unified efforts can solve a problem (Papa et al., 2000). In light of the evidence that interpersonal discussion can accelerate behavior change, we examine its role in impacting the behavior of sexually active, young male viewers of Jasoos Vijay: RQ2: Does interpersonal discussion with respect to HIV/AIDS-prevention measures influence the relationship between exposure and knowledge, attitudes, and behavior? It is important to note that not everyone in the Jasoos Vijay audience or in India more generally is personally at elevated risk of contracting HIV/AIDS (e.g., those in long term monogamous relationships). Consequently, focusing exclusively on whether or not viewers personally engage in safer sex behaviors may underestimate the true impact of the program. To address this issue, we also examined the addition of one final construct the extent to which viewers recommend HIV/AIDSprevention behaviors to their friends and relatives. A previous investigation into the role of interpersonal communication in health behavior change examined the relationship between mass-media-generated interpersonal communication networks and an individuals behavior-change stage (Valente, Poppe, & Merritt, 1996). In their study, Valente et al. found that interpersonal communication varies according to an individuals behavior change stage. Based on Valente, Poppe, and Merritts (1996) stages of change model, it was hypothesized that viewers who adopted HIV-prevention behavior would then be likely to recommend those behaviors to others in their social circle. Thus, the next set of hypotheses predicted that: H4a: Engaging in interpersonal discussion with respect to HIV/AIDS-prevention measures predicts making HIV/AIDS-prevention recommendations to others. H4b: Engaging in HIV/AIDS-prevention behavior predicts making HIV/AIDS-prevention recommendations to others. Taken together, the four hypotheses and two research questions yield a conceptual model of the ways in which exposure, knowledge, attitudes, self-efficacy, and interpersonal discussion may produce effects on behavior and recommendations of behavior to others. (See Figure 2). International Journal of Communication 3 (2009) The Importance of Interpersonal Discussion 613 Figure 2. Complete Conceptual Model. Given the taboo and personal nature of HIV/AIDS-related discussions, it is unclear to whom, if to anyone, viewers spoke about this topic. In light of the findings of Valente et al. (1996) on the differences in interpersonal networks for gaining information, this study investigates not only if young sexually active male viewers discussed these sensitive topics, but with whom and to what effect. Did talking to ones spouse have the most significant impact in adopting preventative measures and seeking treatment? Did cultural norms regarding taboos on discussions of sex with family members act as a barrier in bringing up these topics? In short: RQ3: Does it matter with whom the viewers discuss HIV/AIDS prevention methods? Method To address these hypotheses and research questions, a large-scale survey evaluating the impacts of Jasoos Vijay on the target population was conducted. Jasoos Vijay Program The BBC World Service Trust, the international non-profit charity of the British Broadcasting Corporation, uses the creative power of media to reduce poverty and promote human rights by inspiring

Exposure Knowledge Attitude Behavior H1a H1c H2 Self-efficacy RQ1 RQ1 Interpersonal Discussion RQ2 RQ2 RQ2 RQ2 RQ2 H4a Recommend H4b H1b

H3
614 Chatterjee, Bhanot, Frank, Murphy & Power International Journal of Communication 3(2009) people to build better lives3. From 2002 to 2007, the BBC World Service Trust produced and broadcast the entertainment education program, Jasoos Vijay, as the centerpiece of a larger, multi-format, multiplatform campaign. The purpose of the campaign was to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS and promote behavioral change in India. Funded by the British governments Department for International Development (DFID), the campaign was implemented in partnership with India's national broadcaster Doordarshan and the National AIDS Control Organization. Jasoos (Detective) Vijay was a weekly crime drama telecast on the national TV channel on Sunday nights at primetime with a repeat telecast during the week (see video for example clips from the program). The show aired 130 episodes over the course of five years. By the end of the campaign, Jasoos Vijay was among the top 10 most watched programs on television in India. Television Audience Monitoring (TAM) People Meter data from Nielsens audience panel estimated that, during its final year, Jasoos Vijay reached a weekly audience of up to 15 million, and over the course of the year, it reached 70 million viewers.4 Evaluation of the Impact of the Program Jasoos Vijay was telecast in three phases. During the first phase of the program, a panel study was conducted by Sood, Shefner-Rogers, and Sengupta (2006) to evaluate the impact of the Jasoos Vijay program and other campaign components on the general population. It was conducted in three northern Indian states, and it surveyed married and unmarried men and women aged between 15 and 60 years. Data from this study demonstrated that, among the general audience, people exposed to the campaign had significantly higher awareness and knowledge of HIV/AIDS-related issues. Exposure to the campaign also led to discussion about condoms, STIs, and AIDS, but did not impact condom use directly (Sood et al., 2006). In a separate, cross-sectional study, and to further understand the impact of this long running campaign, the BBC World Service Trust conducted a survey at the beginning of the final phase of the project as a baseline of the publics HIV/AIDS-related knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP). After the campaign concluded, an end-line survey was conducted using the same research methodology. This evaluation showed that a higher percentage of those exposed to Jasoos Vijay knew the different routes of HIV transmission and the methods of preventing HIV transmission. Exposure to the program was also related to having more positive attitudes toward people living with HIV/AIDS and, among men, consistent condom use with commercial sex workers. (For further information on the program and a discussion on the percentage shifts in knowledge, attitudes and practices among viewers and non-viewers, see Deshpande, Balakrishnan, Bhanot, & Dham, in press). These studies have shown a relationship between 3 See http://www.bbcworldservicetrust.org for details on the BBC World Service Trusts current and past projects. 4 Nielsens TV audience panel does not cover towns with populations of less than 100,000, where the majority of the national broadcaster Doordarshans audiences live. Media agencies believe that TAM data under reports Doordarshan viewers, implying that the actual reach of Jasoos Vijay might have been significantly higher than the figures reported by TAM data. International Journal of Communication 3 (2009) The Importance of Interpersonal Discussion 615 exposure and HIV/AIDS-related knowledge, attitudes, and/or behaviors. In contrast, the present paper focuses on whether the KAP model is adequate to capture the behavior change process, or whether its explanatory power is improved by the addition of HIV/AIDS-related self efficacy measures and discussion. Procedure A multi-stage, stratified random sampling procedure was used to select respondents from 168 towns (population below 500,000) and 535 villages (population around 5,000). The study was carried out in 17 Indian states, with each state being divided into socio-cultural regions and then further sub-divided into districts. The survey was administered in 10 languages. Respondents were matched based on gender, age, education, and location (specific town or village) from the baseline to the follow-up study. At each location, a random starting point was selected, and the households for interview were selected following the right-hand rule with a skip of three households from the first one. Each respondent who met the survey criteria was interviewed face-to-face. The data collection was carried out by an independent research agency, and quality control was ensured through an audit by a different agency. The end-line sample contained 12,050 men and women between the ages of 18 and 49 who were Doordarshan viewers (watched DD for at least two hours a week). Sample Our study focuses on the key target population of the campaign, namely sexually active males between the ages of 18 and 34 (N = 834). Our sample was distributed evenly between urban and rural men, with 49.5% and 50.5%, respectively. Within the sample, 5% had no formal schooling, 36.5% had less than a high school education, 42% had a high school degree, and 16% of the sample had a higher education degree. Measures Each of the key constructs of interest in the present analysis is described in detail below (see Appendix A for wording of survey items).

Exposure Exposure to Jasoos Vijay was measured by two items unaided spontaneous recall of characters in the show and of messages from the show. First, respondents were asked to name all the characters they recalled from the program. Respondents were given one point for each character they identified, up to a total of four characters for a total of four possible points. The second item asked respondents what HIV/AIDS-related messages they recalled, with respondents given one point for each of the following: testing of HIV/AIDS, treatment of STIs, treatment of HIV/AIDS, use of tested blood, use of sterilized needles, use of condoms, being faithful to a partner, abstaining from sex, not visiting sex workers, routes of HIV transmission, and support of people living with HIV/AIDS. Higher numbers indicated greater exposure, and exposure could range from 0 to 15. This type of exposure measurement benefits from the ability to tap both awareness and comprehension of the show (Valente, 2002). 616 Chatterjee, Bhanot, Frank, Murphy & Power International Journal of Communication 3(2009) Knowledge of HIV Transmission Routes and Methods of Prevention Knowledge was also measured by two items. Respondents were first asked, How is HIV/AIDS transmitted from one person to another? They were given one point for mentioning each of the following routes: unprotected sex; sex with multiple partners; sex with commercial sex workers; using infected blood; using infected needles/syringes; and from an infected pregnant mother to her baby. Next, respondents were asked How can a person reduce the risk of being infected by HIV/AIDS? Again, they were given one point for mentioning each of the following methods of preventing HIV transmission: condom use; HIV testing; using sterilized needles/syringes; tested blood; faithfulness; and abstinence. Higher numbers indicated greater HIV/AIDS-related knowledge. Attitudes Survey respondents were asked a series of questions regarding whether a male or female member of their community who was infected with HIV/AIDS should be allowed to 1) stay, 2) whether a man infected with HIV/AIDS should be allowed to continue to work as long as he could, 3) whether a child infected with HIV/AIDS should be allowed to go to school, 4) whether all pregnant women should be tested for HIV/AIDS, 5) whether it is all right to pay for sex (reverse coded), and 5) whether a responsible partner would use a condom with non-regular sex partners. These items were summed such that higher scores implied more positive HIV/AIDS-related attitudes. The Cronbachs alpha for this scale was 0.63. Self-efficacy with Respect to HIV/AIDS-related Behaviors Self-efficacy was measured by agreement with the following statements on a 5-point Likert scale (ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree): I can communicate freely with my spouse on matters concerning sex; I am confident that I can protect myself from HIV/ AIDS; If I think necessary, I would insist on using a condom with my partner; I would always use a condom to protect myself from HIV/AIDS; If I perceive any risk, I am confident I can myself go for HIV testing; If I need any treatment, I will only consult a qualified medical professional for treatment of STIs; I will insist on using tested blood, whenever I need a blood transfusion for myself or my family members; and I will insist on using sterilized/boiled needles whenever I need to take an injection. Items were re-scaled so that higher numbers indicated higher degrees of self-efficacy and then summed. The Cronbachs alpha for this scale was 0.74. International Journal of Communication 3 (2009) The Importance of Interpersonal Discussion 617 Practices or HIV/AIDS-related Behaviors Behavior was also a self-reported summed score based on respondents agreeing that they had engaged in each of the following eight HIV/AIDS-related behaviors: testing for HIV/AIDS, treatment of STIs by qualified personnel, treatment of HIV/AIDS by qualified personnel; use of tested blood; use of sterilized needles; consistent use of condoms; being faithful to one partner; and not visiting sex workers. Recommending HIV/AIDS-related Behaviors to Others In addition to asking respondents whether or not they had engaged in any of the above behaviors, the survey also asked whether they had recommended any of these same eight HIV/AIDSrelated behaviors to others. One point was allotted for each recommendation of each behavior. Interpersonal Discussion Respondents were also asked if they had ever discussed any of the eight HIV/AIDS-related behaviors with anyone and, if so, with whom (spouse, family, friend, other)? One point was allotted for each separate topic discussed with each individual. Analysis All of the hypotheses and the first two research questions were addressed through structural equation models. Within these models, individual hypotheses were tested with local t tests to determine whether they were statistically significant. Additionally, the global fit of the entire model was examined. The final research question was tested using multiple regression analysis. The alpha levels for all tests were set at .05 a priori. The Results Preliminary Analysis

Prior to the structural equation modeling analysis, the data were prepared using SPSS 14 and PRELIS. Specifically, variable scales were created using SPSS as described above. PRELIS was used to compute the covariance matrix for input into the LISREL software. The covariance matrix for all of the variables is shown in Table 1 (see Appendix B for a table with the correlation matrix). The LISREL analysis was conducted using a covariance matrix and maximum likelihood estimation. Primary Analysis Knowledge, attitudes, and practices The basic model parameter estimates are shown in Figure 3. The three EE pathways from exposure to knowledge, attitudes, and practices were all significant at the 0.05 level. Thus, all 618 Chatterjee, Bhanot, Frank, Murphy & Power International Journal of Communication 3(2009) components of the first hypothesis were supported. Likewise, the second hypothesis was supported. Knowledge of HIV transmission routes and methods of prevention significantly predicted HIV/AIDS-related attitudes. Finally, the third hypothesis was also supported. Attitudes about HIV predicted HIV/AIDSrelated behaviors. Thus, in this hypothesized knowledge, attitudes, and practices model, all of the hypotheses were supported as predicted. Indicators of the goodness-of-fit of this model and subsequent iterations are included in Table 2. With a global 2 of 7.85 and 1 degree of freedom, the p value is less than 0.01, indicating that the model is not a very good fit to the data. Additionally, the root mean square error of estimation is over 0.05, also indicating that the model fit is not good. Thus, despite the strong support for the basic EE and KAP hypotheses, the model may benefit from modifications. Table 1. Covariance Matrix (N = 754). Exposure Discussion Knowledge Attitude Selfefficacy Behave Rec Exposure 7.27 Discussion 1.08 5.69 Knowledge 1.13 1.30 4.35 Attitude 1.32 2.75 1.59 17.89 Self-efficacy 0.75 3.01 1.29 8.06 15.86 Behavior 0.68 0.97 0.46 0.90 1.31 2.10 Recommend 1.73 5.44 1.61 1.96 1.84 2.58 27.34 Self-efficacy Figure 4 addresses RQ1 with the addition of self-efficacy to the basic KAP model. In this revised model (Model 2), attitudes significantly predict self-efficacy. In turn, self-efficacy has a significant effect on behavior. None of the other parameter estimates in the model change more than 0.03 with the addition of self-efficacy. Exposure continues to significantly predict knowledge, attitudes, and behavior, and knowledge affects attitudes. Overall, this model is a better fit with a global 2 of 10.88 (3), p = 0.01. The 2 to degrees of freedom ratio (3.62) is well below the acceptable guideline of 5. International Journal of Communication 3 (2009) The Importance of Interpersonal Discussion 619 Figure 3. Model 1 - Parameter Estimates for Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices Model. * p < .05. Table 2. Model Iterations. 2 (df) p 2 / df Ratio RMSEA 2 d (df) p-value Model 1. KAP 7.85 (1) < 0.01 7.85 0.10 Model 2. Self-efficacy Added 10.88 (3) 0.01 3.62 0.06 Model 3. Path from Attitude to Behavior Deleted 11.53 (4) 0.02 2.89 0.05 0.65 (1) p > .05 Model 4. Interpersonal Discussion Added 3.20 (4) 0.53 0.80 0.00 Model 5. Path from Exposure to Attitude Deleted 5.50 (5) 0.36

1.10 0.01 2.30 (1) p > .05 Model 6. Recommend Added 14.30 (9) 0.11 1.59 0.03 Note: The 2 d test compares nested models. A p-value greater than .05 shows that the less constrained model is not significantly worse than the more constrained model.

Exposure Knowledge Attitude Behavior 0.16* 0.13* 0.09* 0.33* 0.04*

620 Chatterjee, Bhanot, Frank, Murphy & Power International Journal of Communication 3(2009) Figure 4. Model 2 - Parameter Estimates for Model with Self-efficacy Added. * p < .05. However, Model 2 includes a non-significant pathway from attitude to behavior. The model was re-run with this pathway deleted (Model 3, see Figure 5). The individual parameter estimates remained stable. All of the paths included in this model were statistically significant at the 0.05 level. Because this model includes one fewer pathway, the previous model (Model 2) is nested within it. A 2 difference test (2 d) comparing the two nested models was not statistically significant, showing that removing the pathway did not decrease model fit. In fact, the p value for the 2, the 2 ratio, and the RMSEA were all improved for Model 3 compared to Model 2, indicating a better overall model fit. Overall, the addition of self-efficacy to the model increases the ability to predict behavior and does not affect the relationships among exposure, knowledge, attitudes, and behavior. Figure 5. Model 3 - Parameter Estimates for Model with Self-efficacy Added and No Path from Attitude to Behavior. * p < .05.

Exposure Knowledge Attitude Behavior 0.16* 0.13* 0.09* 0.33* 0.45* Self-efficacy 0.08* Exposure Knowledge Attitude Behavior 0.16* 0.13* 0.08* 0.33* 0.01 0.45* Self-efficacy 0.07*
International Journal of Communication 3 (2009) The Importance of Interpersonal Discussion 621 Interpersonal Discussion To address the second research question, interpersonal discussion about HIV was also added to Model 4 (see Figure 6). A path from exposure predicting interpersonal discussion and paths from interpersonal discussion to knowledge, attitude, self-efficacy, and behavior were included. Individual t

tests of the parameter estimates were all significant and positive. While the majority of the previously modeled relationships between exposure, knowledge, attitude, self-efficacy, and behavior did not qualitatively change with the addition of interpersonal discussion, the path from exposure directly to attitude was no longer significant in this revised model. This model is a very good fit to the data, with 2 of 3.20 (4), p = 0.53. The non-significant path from exposure to attitude was deleted in the next model iteration (Model 5, see Figure 7). The overall model fit remained quite good, and the 2 d test was not significant, showing that the model was no worse without inclusion of the pathway. Figure 6. Model 4 - Parameter Estimates for Model with Self-efficacy and Discussion Added. * p < .05.

Exposure Knowledge Attitude Behavior 0.13* 0.09 0.07* 0.22* 0.40* Self-efficacy 0.06* Interpersonal Discussion 0.15* 0.20* 0.42* 0.34* 0.13*
622 Chatterjee, Bhanot, Frank, Murphy & Power International Journal of Communication 3(2009) Figure 7. Model 5 - Parameter Estimates for Model with Self-efficacy and Discussion Added and Path from Exposure to Attitude Deleted. * p < .05. Overall, the addition of interpersonal discussion to the model does not modify the majority of the relationships among exposure, knowledge, attitude, self-efficacy, and behavior. Instead, inclusion of interpersonal discussion increases the ability to predict knowledge, attitudes, and behavior. Recommendations The final model, Model 6 (see Figure 8), includes the addition of one more construct, the extent to which people recommend HIV/AIDS-prevention behaviors to others. Both interpersonal discussion and behavior were predicted to lead to recommendations. As predicted by H4a and H4b, the parameter estimates for both of these paths were statistically significant and positive. Interpersonal discussion increases the likelihood that young men will recommend HIV/AIDS-related behaviors to others, and engaging in the behaviors themselves also increases the likelihood that they will recommend the behaviors. Thus, both parts of the fourth hypothesis are supported. This final model is a good fit for the data with the global goodness of fit test not significant (p = 0.11), a 2 to degrees of freedom ratio of only 1.6, and a low RMSEA of 0.03. Table 3 shows the total, direct, and indirect effects of exposure to Jasoos Vijay on each of the other variables in the model. Either directly or indirectly, exposure significantly predicts knowledge, attitudes, self-efficacy, behaviors, and recommendations.

Exposure Knowledge Attitude Behavior 0.13* 0.07* 0.24* 0.40* Self-efficacy 0.06* Interpersonal Discussion 0.15* 0.20* 0.43* 0.34*

0.13*
International Journal of Communication 3 (2009) The Importance of Interpersonal Discussion 623 Interpersonal Discussion with Whom The third research question was addressed using linear regression analysis, controlling for exposure to the show. Interpersonal discussion with each of the target others was entered separately. Analysis of the correlation matrix and variance inflation factors showed that the interpersonal discussion variables with different targets were not multi-collinear. In fact, interpersonal discussion about HIV/AIDSrelated topics with friends was significantly negatively correlated with discussion of those issues with all categories of family members (r of -0.28, -0.12, -0.16 for spouse, immediate family, and other relatives, respectively). Thus, all of the interpersonal discussion variables were also entered into a single model. Table 4 shows the beta coefficients for each regression model. Individually, discussion with ones spouse, immediate family, and other relatives all predict HIV/AIDS-prevention behaviors. When entered into a single model, discussion with friends is also significantly predictive over and above the effects of talking with family. Overall, the person to whom one talks makes a difference in the effect of exposure to Jasoos Vijay and interpersonal discussion on behavior. In the present study, discussion of HIV/AIDS-related issues with family members was particularly effective in creating behavioral change. Figure 8. Model 6 Final Model. * p < .05.

Exposure Knowledge Attitude Behavior 0.13* 0.07* 0.24* Self-efficacy 0.40* 0.06* Interpersonal Discussion 0.15* 0.20* 0.43* 0.34* 0.13* 0.81* Recommend 0.85*
624 Chatterjee, Bhanot, Frank, Murphy & Power International Journal of Communication 3(2009) Table 3. Total, Direct, and Indirect Effects. Effects of Exposure to Jasoos Vijay Direct Indirect Total Discussion 0.15* - 0.15* Knowledge 0.13* 0.03* 0.16* Attitude - 0.10* 0.10* Self-efficacy - 0.09* 0.09* Behavior 0.07* 0.02* 0.09* Recommend - 0.20* 0.20* *p < .05. Table 4. Interpersonal Discussion Predicting HIV/AIDS-Related Behaviors. Linear Regression Beta Coefficients 123456 Exposure to Jasoos Vijay 0.13** 0.13** 0.13** 0.13** 0.13** 0.13** Discussion with spouse 0.08* - - - - 0.09** Discussion with family - 0.09** - - - 0.08* Discussion with other relatives - - 0.09** - - 0.09** Discussion with friends - - - 0.04 - 0.09** Discussion with others - - - - 0.02 0.03 R2 0.023 0.026 0.026 0.018 0.018 0.042 Adjusted R2 0.021 0.024 0.024 0.016 0.016 0.036 *p < .05. **p < .01.

Discussion The focus of the present paper was to test whether the KAP model is adequate to capture behavior change processes, or whether its explanatory power is improved by the addition of measures of HIV/AIDS-related self efficacy and interpersonal communication. Data from the end-line survey of a longrunning EE program in India were used to evaluate the impact on the target audience of 18 to 34-year-old sexually active men. Our analysis first tested components of the basic KAP model in which exposure to Jasoos Vijay predicted increased HIV/AIDS-related knowledge, more enlightened attitudes toward HIV and engaging in HIV prevention practices or behaviors. In short, exposure to Jasoos Vijay predicted increased HIV/AIDS-related knowledge, attitudes, and practices, supporting all components of Hypothesis 1. Moreover, knowledge of HIV transmission routes and methods of prevention significantly predicted more positive attitudes, supporting Hypothesis 2. International Journal of Communication 3 (2009) The Importance of Interpersonal Discussion 625 Likewise, having more enlightened attitudes about HIV directly predicted engaging in HIV/AIDSprevention behaviors, supporting Hypothesis 3. Further iterations of the model that incorporated self-efficacy help to illuminate the relationship between HIV/AIDS-related attitudes and behaviors. More specifically, in Model 2, which added self-efficacy to the basic KAP model, attitudes significantly predicted viewers self-efficacy with respect to performing the eight HIV-prevention methods incorporated into the Jasoos Vijay narrative. Elevated self-efficacy was, in turn, related to actually engaging in these behaviors. In fact, the inclusion of self-efficacy within the model made the direct relationship between attitudes and behavior insignificant. Thus, self-efficacy fully mediates the relationship between attitudes and behaviors. This suggests that more enlightened HIV attitudes may serve to make individuals more confident that they can successfully perform these various HIV/AIDS-related behaviors, and this self confidence, in turn, increases the likelihood that they actually do engage in these safer sex practices. The improvement of the model with the addition of self-efficacy reinforces the claim by Bandura (2004) and other theorists that self-efficacy is one of the most important prerequisites of behavior and, consequently, should be incorporated in models of behavioral change. Similarly, the addition of interpersonal discussion strongly improved the fit of the model. As shown in Model 5, the addition of interpersonal discussion to the model does not modify the majority of the relationships among exposure, knowledge, attitude, self efficacy, and behavior, but it does increase our ability to predict relevant knowledge, attitudes, and behavior. Interpersonal communication fully mediated the relationship between exposure and attitudes, and it partially mediated the relationships between exposure and both knowledge and behavior. In other words, the relationship between exposure and attitudes is better explained by their relationships with interpersonal communication. Given the mixed results of previous campaigns in impacting attitudes, it is particularly important to note that the effects of exposure on attitudes in this campaign all occurred through interpersonal communication. The importance of interpersonal discussion is consistent with Banduras assertion that, in addition to direct effects, the media can also influence audiences indirectly, through a socially mediated pathway (2004, p. 141) in which interpersonal discussion can promote knowledge, change attitudes, and guide behavior. Interpersonal discussion can serve to reinforce the original EE message. As noted previously, not everyone in our sample was personally at elevated risk of contracting HIV/AIDS. Many of the sexually active male viewers in our sample such as those in long-term monogamous relationships may have accurately concluded that they did not need to personally engage in the eight prevention behaviors promoted in Jasoos Vijay. Consequently, focusing exclusively on whether or not these viewers personally engaged in these safer sex behaviors may inadvertently underestimate the true impact of the program. To address this issue, we also examined the addition of one final variable the extent to which viewers recommended these HIV/AIDS-prevention behaviors to others. As predicted in Hypothesis 4, both interpersonal discussion and engaging in safer sex behavior themselves increased the likelihood that the young sexually active men in our sample recommended HIV/AIDS-prevention behaviors to others. The finding that interpersonal discussion was a pivotal component of encouraging viewers to adopt safer sex practices and to encourage others to do so was supported by viewer comments: 626 Chatterjee, Bhanot, Frank, Murphy & Power International Journal of Communication 3(2009) Family perception about HIV/ AIDS has changed . . . after we started watching Jasoos Vijay . . . people are not embarrassed of talking about HIV/ AIDS. This is especially so between married couples. Moreover, many viewers reported impact at the community level: . . . inspired by your serial we have set up a group in our village which disseminates information on HIV, AIDS, STIs among the villagers . . . please send me booklets on HIV/AIDS . . . Our final research question asked whether the interlocutor with whom one discussed the safer sex practices depicted in the Jasoos Vijay series mattered. Linear regression analyses revealed a fascinating pattern of results. Speaking with ones spouse about the eight HIV prevention behaviors was significantly related to actually performing those behaviors. To a lesser extent, talking to ones immediate and extended family also predicted behavior. When all interpersonal discussion variables were entered into a single model, discussion with friends was also significantly predictive of engaging in safer sex practices over and above discussion with all family members. Interestingly, this suggests that viewers in our sample

who tended to discuss the HIV/AIDS-prevention topics covered in Jasoos Vijay with family members did not tend to discuss these same topics with friends and vice versa. In short, it appears that viewers were more likely to talk either to their family or to their friends about HIV prevention; and those who talked to their family were more likely to follow through in terms of their own safer sex behavior. Our findings appear to be along the lines of recent work by various scholars on the role of conversations on campaign effects (see for example, Hoeken, Swanepole, Saal, & Jansen, 2009; Morgan, 2009; Southwell & Yzer, 2009). For example, Southwell and Yzer (2009) suggest that conversation and campaign effects are most likely to intersect when campaign timing and context facilitates individuals recognition of the relevance of campaign efforts to everyday survival and maintenance of self-image (p. 4). In this study, the results indicate that discussion with family members and friends may play differential roles in activating the relevance of the campaign, and hence, who one talks to may, in part, account for the variance in behavioral outcomes. For EE campaign producers and researchers, this indicates the need to pay more nuanced attention not only to integrating elements that spark discussion in the audience, but also to whom the individuals talk to better account for effects on different topics and in different contexts. In the past decade, research on EE programs has repeatedly highlighted the importance of interpersonal discussion as a key mediating variable in effecting behavior change. Theoretically, this model can be traced back to the two-step flow formulation of Katz & Lazarsfeld (1955) as well as Rogers (1995) work on diffusion of innovation. Rogers suggested, mass media channels are more effective in creating knowledge, whereas interpersonal channels are more effective in forming and changing attitudes toward a new idea, and thus in influencing the decision to adopt or reject a new idea (p. 36). However, within the realm of EE research, the role of interpersonal discussion of the key messages has yet to be adequately explored. As a step in this direction, our study clearly demonstrates that more attention needs to be focused on the complex way in which interpersonal communication works, impacting not only behavior, but also related aspects of knowledge, attitude, and self-efficacy. Focusing on interpersonal communication as a mediating variable may also enable us to theoretically explore the International Journal of Communication 3 (2009) The Importance of Interpersonal Discussion 627 complex interaction between individual-level (micro) behavioral change and community-level (meso/macro) social change. EE programming, even when focused on individual behavior adoption and change, typically deals with social issues and behaviors which are complex and often embedded in a web of social relations. Clearly, this also calls for future analysis and theorizing of effects to demonstrate equal sophistication and complexity (Dutta-Bergman, 2005; Singhal, in press without losing applicability. Our study suggests that focusing on interpersonal discussion could provide a crucial window into understanding the process of change and provide a clearer view of how EE programs interact with the individual, community, and environment to produce social change. As Southwell and Yzer (2009) note, the more we understand why people verbally engage one another, the greater our ability to account for variance in campaign outcomes and in relationships between exposures and outcomes by assessing talk that occurs because of (and despite) campaign efforts (p. 5). Further, our analysis suggests the potential for EE programs to role model a variety of interpersonal communication scenarios in order to optimize the behavior change outcomes. Limitations Although previous research on Jasoos Vijay has used both baseline and end-line data to show a relationship between exposure to the program and change in knowledge, attitudes, and practices (Sood et al., 2006; Deshpande et al., in press), this study focused only on the end-line data. The decision to focus on post-only data enabled more accurate modeling of the actual relationships among knowledge, attitudes, and practices, as well as the roles of self-efficacy and interpersonal discussion. However, it does not test the impact of Jasoos Vijay as well as a pre/post design would. As a result, this study is more of a conceptual exploration of the relationships between EE programs and the processes by which they produce effects than a strict evaluative work. In addition, the data for this study were originally collected for the pre/post evaluation without plans for a theoretical structural equation model. Thus, the questions asked in the survey to assess knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs do not all target the same behaviors. While all three constructs include methods of prevention, attitudes also include tolerance toward people living with HIV/AIDS, and behaviors also include getting tested for HIV/AIDS. The lack of a strong relationship between attitudes and behaviors in this study may have been based, in part, on this operationalization. Future studies should assess all relevant constructs with respect to the same target behaviors. That is, given the strong arguments of the need for behavioral specificity in assessing determinants of behavior (Fishbein, 1980) and the longstanding evidence that the most effective interventions are those that are directed at changing specific behaviors (Fishbein & Yzer, 2003), operationalization and measurement of HIV/AIDS-prevention behaviors and related determinants must be explored with greater specificity. A long-running EE intervention, with multiple behaviors being promoted, should ideally have constructs that are matched throughout to tap into different domains of behavior (e.g., condom use with spouse, condom use with casual partner, use of clean needles), thus enabling further investigation of the effect of exposure on various target behaviors. 628 Chatterjee, Bhanot, Frank, Murphy & Power International Journal of Communication 3(2009) Conclusion EE programming has a history of demonstrated effects, and this study of the impact of Jasoos

Vijay adds to that growing body of literature. However, future research needs to address and systematically unpack the black box of a blanket EE label. There now exists a wide array of EE projects that differ in terms of message, medium, audience, length, complexity, and innumerable other dimensions. What is lacking is a serious attempt to step back and make sense of this burgeoning field by contextualizing and extricating the differences in EE programs and their associated effects. For example, the results that we found arose from a long-running program on national television with explicit messaging on its core theme of HIV/AIDS-related issues. Other program formats with differing media, genre, or message complexity may not create the same pattern of effects. As Singhal and Rogers (2002) point out, whereas EE interventions come in all shapes and sizes, current theoretical debates do not acknowledge the substantial variability among EE interventions, which undoubtedly influence the answers to the what, how, and why questions of EE effects (p. 121). This study sheds light on EE interventions that use a serial drama format on television. Further research is likewise necessary to verify the value of the inclusion of self-efficacy and interpersonal discussion as key components in models of behavioral change and to begin to parse out how and when these variables are most effective with other EE formats. International Journal of Communication 3 (2009) The Importance of Interpersonal Discussion 629 Appendix A Survey Items Exposure Measures Can you name any characters from Jasoos Vijay? Please tell me what all messages you have got from Jasoos Vijay. Knowledge of HIV transmission routes and methods of prevention How is HIV/AIDS transmitted from one person to another? How can a person reduce the risk of being infected by HIV/AIDS? Attitude Measures If a male member in your community is infected with HIV/AIDS, do you think it is all right for him to stay in the town/village? If a female member in your community is infected with HIV/AIDS, do you think it is all right for her to stay in the town/ village? If a man is infected with HIV/AIDS, should he be allowed to work as long as he can? If a child is infected with HIV/AIDS, should it be allowed to go to school? All pregnant women should be tested for HIV/AIDS. I think it is all right to pay for sex. [reverse coded] I believe that a responsible (non-regular sex) partner would always use condoms. Self-efficacy with respect to HIV/AIDS-related behaviors I can communicate freely with my spouse on matters concerning sex. I am confident that I can protect myself from HIV / AIDS. If I think necessary, I would insist on using a condom with my partner. I would always use a condom to protect myself from HIV/AIDS. If I perceive any risk, I am confident I can, myself, go for HIV testing. If I need any treatment, I will only consult qualified medical professionals for treatment of STIs. I will insist on using tested blood whenever I need a blood transfusion for myself or my family members. I will insist on using sterilized/boiled needles whenever I need to take an injection. Practices or HIV/AIDS-related behaviors Please state whether you have ever done any of the following? Testing of HIV/AIDS Treatment of STIs from qualified personnel Treatment of HIV/AIDS from qualified personnel Use of tested blood Use of sterilized/boiled needles (safe handling of needles) Consistent use of condoms to prevent HIV/AIDS and STIs Being faithful to one partner Not visiting sex workers 630 Chatterjee, Bhanot, Frank, Murphy & Power International Journal of Communication 3(2009) Interpersonal discussion Which of the following topics have you discussed? Testing of HIV/AIDS Treatment of STIs from qualified personnel Treatment of HIV/AIDS from qualified personnel Use of tested blood Use of sterilized/boiled needles (safe handling of needles) Consistent use of condoms to prevent HIV/AIDS and STIs Being faithful to one partner Not visiting sex workers Please mention with whom you have discussed these matters.

Recommending HIV/AIDS-related behaviors to others Please state whether you have ever recommended any of the following. Testing of HIV/AIDS Treatment of STIs from qualified personnel Treatment of HIV/AIDS from qualified personnel Use of tested blood Use of sterilized/boiled needles (safe handling of needles) Consistent use of condoms to prevent HIV/AIDS and STIs Being faithful to one partner Not visiting sex workers Appendix B Correlation Matrix (N = 754) Exposure Discuss Knowledge Attitude Selfefficacy Behave Rec Exposure 1.00 Discussion 0.17** 1.00 Knowledge 0.20** 0.26** 1.00 Attitude 0.12** 0.27** 0.18** 1.00 Self-efficacy 0.07 0.32** 0.16** 0.48** 1.00 Behavior 0.17** 0.28** 0.15** 0.15** 0.23** 1.00 Recommend 0.12** 0.44** 0.15** 0.09* 0.09* 0.34** 1.00 * p < .05. ** p < .01. International Journal of Communication 3 (2009) The Importance of Interpersonal Discussion 631 References Ajzen, I. (1985). From intentions to actions: A theory of planned behavior. In J. Kuhl & J. Beckman (Eds.). Action-control: From cognition to behavior (pp. 11-39). Heidelberg: Springer. Bandura, A. & Schunk, D. H. (1981). Cultivating competence, self-efficacy and intrinsic interest through proximal self-motivation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 41, pp. 586-598. Bandura, A. (1977). Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavior change. Psychological Review, 84, pp. 191-215. Bandura, A. (2004). Health promotion by social cognitive means. Health Education & Behavior, 31, pp. 143-164. Bhattacharya, G. (2004). Sociocultural and behavioral contexts of condom use in heterosexual married couples in India: Challenges to the HIV prevention program. Health Education & Behavior, 31(1), pp. 101-117. Deshpande, S., Balakrishnan, J., Bhanot, A., ,& Dham, S. (In press). Contraceptive social marketing attempts in India. In Cheng, H., Kotler, P., & Lee, N. (Eds.). Social marketing for public health: Global trends and success stories. Jones & Bartlett. Dutta-Bergman, M. J. (2005). Theory and practice in health communication campaigns: A critical interrogation. Health Communication, 18(2), pp. 103122. Fishbein, M. (1980). A theory of reasoned action: Some applications and implications. Nebraska Symposium on Motivation, 27, pp. 65-116. Fishbein, M., & Cappella, J. N. (2006). The role of theory in developing effective health communications. Journal of Communication, 56(1), pp. 1-17. Fishbein, M., & Yzer, M. C. (2003). Using theory to design effective health behavior interventions. Communication Theory, 13(2), pp. 164183. Hoeken, H., Swanepoel, P., Saal, E., & Jansen, C. (2009). Using message form to stimulate conversations: The case of tropes. Communication Theory, 19(1), pp. 49-65. International Institute for Population Sciences & Macro International. (2007). National Family Health Survey (NFHS-3), 2005-06, India: Key Findings. Mumbai: IIPS 632 Chatterjee, Bhanot, Frank, Murphy & Power International Journal of Communication 3(2009) Joshi, A., Dhapola, M., & Pelto, P. J. (2004). Non-marital sex and sexual health problems in rural Gujrat. In Verma, R. K., Pelto, P. J., Schensul, S. L., & Joshi, A. (Eds.). Sexuality in the time of AIDS: Contemporary perspectives from communities in India (pp. 262-282). New Delhi: Sage. Katz, E., & Lazarsfeld, P. F. (1955). Personal influence: The part played by people in the flow of mass communications. New York: The Free Press. Morgan, S. E. (2009). The intersection of conversation, cognitions, and campaigns: The social representation of organ donation. Communication Theory, 19(1), pp. 29-48. Papa, M., Singhal, A., Law, S., Pant, S., Sood, S., Rogers, E. M. et al. (2000). Entertainment-education and social change: An analysis of parasocial interaction, social learning, collective efficacy, and paradoxical communication. Journal of Communication, 50, pp. 31-55. Papa, M., & Singhal, A. (2008). How entertainment-education programs promote dialogue in support of social change. Paper presented at 58th Annual International Communication Association Conference, Montral, Canada. Ramakrishna, J., Pelto, P. J., Verma, R. K., Schensul, S. L., & Joshi, A. (2004). Guidelines for policymaking and interventions in the time of AIDS. In Verma, R. K., Pelto, P. J., Schensul, S. L., &

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