Zeitschrift B.

für Zimmerman
Psychologie / & A. Kitsantas:
Journal College
of Psychology
© 2007 Students’
Hogrefe
2007; Vol. Self-Efficacy
& Huber
215(3):157–163
Publishers

Reliability and Validity of Self-Efficacy

for Learning Form (SELF) Scores of
College Students
Barry Zimmerman and Anastasia Kitsantas
City University of New York, USA

Abstract. We studied psychometric properties of the SELF with 223 college students. The SELF assesses students’ self-efficacy beliefs
regarding their use of specific self-regulatory processes in various areas of academic functioning. To determine the validity of SELF
scores, the following outcome measures were studied: perceived responsibility, homework quantity, and homework quality. In addition,
students’ grades, standardized test scores (SAT), and instructor ratings of students’ self-regulated skills were investigated. Students’ scores
on both the original SELF and an abridged form of the scale (SELF-A) were found to have a unitary factor structure and high level of
internal reliability. Interestingly, the SELF-A was superior in its prediction of all validity measures except the SAT, which was comparable
for the two forms.

Keywords: self-efficacy, self-regulated learning, perceived responsibility, homework, scale development

Students’ self-efficacy beliefs have been found to play an
especially important role in motivating them to learn (Pa-
jares & Schunk, 2001). Self-efficacy refers to beliefs about
one’s capability to learn or perform effectively, such as to
solve a particular type of math problem. Self-efficacy dif-
fers operationally from other self-related constructs in that
self-efficacy items are phrased in terms of what students
can do rather than what they will do or usually do in a
particular domain (Bandura, 2006). An important type of
self-efficacy focuses on students’ beliefs about their capa-
bility to self-regulate learning (SRL), which refers to such
processes as goal setting, self-monitoring, strategy use,
self-evaluation, and self-reactions.
In an initial effort to measure this construct, Bandura
(1989) developed a self-efficacy for SRL scale and sought
to examine its psychometric properties. This scale assessed
students’ perceptions of self-efficacy for using a variety of
academic study methods, such as to “organize your school-
work” or “plan your schoolwork.” With high school stu-
dents in social studies classes, Bandura and his colleagues
(Zimmerman, Bandura, & Martinez-Pons, 1992) found that
the self-efficacy for SRL scale was quite reliable (Cron-
bach’s α = .87 for this 11-item scale), but it was not directly
predictive of the students’ final grades in the social studies
course. However, the students’ self-efficacy for SRL be-
liefs were predictive of their self-efficacy for academic
achievement beliefs, which referred to the students’ per-
ceived capabilities in various general subject matter areas,
such as general math or science. These researchers found
that students’ scores on the self-efficacy for academic
achievement scale were, in turn, predictive of their grades,
thus suggesting an indirect predictive role for self-efficacy
for SRL.
Recently Zimmerman and Kitsantas (2005) developed a
new scale to assess self-efficacy for SRL, termed the Self-Ef-
ficacy for Learning Form (SELF). To optimize the predictive
validity of self-efficacy scales, Bandura (2006) has recom-
mended increasing the challenge of the items. Zimmerman
and Kitsantas constructed the items of the SELF to capture
students’ certainty about coping with challenging academic
problems or contexts, such as having trouble concentrating
on a reading assignment or having missed class. For example,
“When you find yourself getting increasingly behind in a new
course, can you increase your study time sufficiently to catch
up?” This item format was designed to be a demanding test
for self-efficacy beliefs because it involves adapting to diffi-
cult learning conditions. These items sought to extend be-
yond students’ self-beliefs about their procedural knowledge
and skill (e.g., about using learning strategies) to include their
conditional self-efficacy beliefs (e.g., about coping with spe-
cific learning contexts).
In their study, Zimmerman and Kitsantas (2005) exam-
ined the psychometric properties of scores on the SELF
with a sample of high school girls attending a highly selec-
tive parochial school that emphasized the role of home-
work in the curriculum. The SELF, which was comprised
of 57 items, was found to have a unitary factorial structure.
In addition, students’ scores on the scale were found to
have a high level of internally consistent reliability (Cron-
bach’s α = .96), and high level of validity in predicting the
students’ grade point average (r = .68), their judgments of
responsibility for their academic outcomes (r = .71), and

© 2007 Hogrefe & Huber Publishers Zeitschrift für Psychologie / Journal of Psychology 2007; Vol. 215(3):157–163
DOI 10.1027/0044-3409.215.3.157