What is Self-Efficacy? It's How We Ignite the Power in Girls.
Written by Sarah Miller-Fellows, PhD, MPH, Director of Impact
At Girls Empowerment Network, our mission is to ignite the power in girls by teaching them the skills to thrive and believe in their ability to be unstoppable. One of our favorite interview questions is to ask potential employees their favorite part of our mission. Some highlight the value of the concrete skills that we teach, while others focus on believing in themselves. My personal favorite is our celebration of girls’ power. Each distinct part of our mission is a step in the process of building a girl’s self-efficacy.
You may be familiar with the concept of self-esteem, which is an overall feeling of one’s worth or value. Or maybe you’ve heard of grit, which is perseverance and persistence towards a goal. Perhaps self-efficacy sounds similar to self-confidence, which is a sense of security in oneself. Girls need strong self-esteem, grit and self-confidence, but they need even stronger self-efficacy. So what is self-efficacy and why do girls need it?
“Efficacy beliefs help determine how much effort people will expend on activity, how long they will persevere when confronting obstacles, and how resilient they will prove to be in the face of adverse situations - the higher the sense of efficacy, the greater the effort, persistence and resilience.” - Pajares, 1996, p. 544
Self-efficacy is the belief in one’s own abilities. Before a girl decides to sign up for a computer science class, introduces herself to a classmate at a new school, or tries out a new sport, she has to believe in her own abilities to succeed. As described by Pajares, self-efficacy connects to initial effort, ongoing perseverance and resilience no matter the challenges a girl faces.
“Girl Connect reminds me that I am enough, I can bounce back up and I am proud to be me.” - 4th grade Girl Connect participant, fall 2019
Giving girls a strong belief in themselves (self-efficacy) has an important impact on academic success and future career achievement. Self-efficacy is the strongest predictor of college GPA—more than high school GPA or demographic factors (Richardson et al., 2012). This means that with the right support, girls who have high self-efficacy grow into powerful, confident, educated women who pursue higher level career opportunities that make them better capable of financially supporting themselves and their families.
“I learned that I can be a leader and not just famous people can be leaders.” - 4th grade Spark Kit participant, summer 2020
Additionally, self-efficacy creates resiliency because individuals who believe they can overcome challenges and know they have resources, support, and connections they can rely on will better weather temporary setbacks to create more stability in their lives. In fact, self-efficacy is more important than perseverance (“grit”) to predicting school achievement (Usher et al., 2019) and a stronger predictor of preferred career than academic achievement (Bandura et al., 2001). Together this means that a girl with strong self-efficacy will achieve more and reach towards higher goals.
“My students love seeing themselves represented by strong women.” - We Are Girls Austin 2019 teacher
Self-efficacy is especially important in the era of COVID-19. Mental health professionals have suggested the COVID-19 pandemic is a widespread, ongoing traumatic experience (Higgins, 2020; Newkirk II, 2020; Salas, 2020). Self-efficacy has been identified as a key moderating factor in reducing the long term psychological impacts of trauma in multiple contexts (Benight et al., 2015; Benight & Bandura, 2004; Flatten et al., 2008; Makara-Studzińska et al., 2019). A meta-analysis of 154 studies found that both coping-specific self-efficacy and general self-efficacy were associated with lower levels of PTSD symptoms following a traumatic event (Gallagher et al., 2020). Furthermore, a study of workers exposed to a traumatic event found that receiving an intervention targeted at building self-efficacy resulted in lower secondary traumatic stress compared to simply receiving general information about coping resources (Benight et al., 2015). These findings suggest building self-efficacy is an important for weathering the psychological effects of COVID-19.
“I feel like after the past three weeks, I feel more positive and I have more self-love. I’ve met new people who encounter the same struggles and we’ve grown together as people.” - 11th grade virtual Girl Connect participant, May 2020
Self-efficacy sounds like magic, right? How do you increase something as huge as a belief in one’s own abilities?
The good news here is that we have excellent data on how to increase someone’s self-efficacy not just in one area, but in many areas of her life. This is because self-efficacy is both domain-based and transferrable (Bandura, 2006). This means that we give a girl skills in communicating with her peers and her teachers, she can transfer those skills to communicating with her family members and the community around her.
There are four essential strategies for building self-efficacy (Bandura, 1977):
Mastery experiences
Vicarious experiences
Verbal persuasion
Mood
“The energy and positivity you create for our girls, especially in the pep rally, was life changing for many in the audience. I was moved to tears.” - We Are Girls Austin 2019 parent
We have built our programs on activating each of these strategies to increase girls’ self-efficacy. Mastery experiences are opportunities to try a new skill and experience success. Our programs are hands on and give girls a safe space to practice skills. Vicarious experiences are watching others try a new skill and experience success. Our programs take place in groups, so girls watch others try new things and succeed. Verbal persuasion is encouragement from another. Our girl experts provide relatable role models who can encourage girls to try new activities and practice their skills. Mood is the feelings at the time of learning new skills. Our programs use fun and magic to create a positive and exciting space for girls to learn.
“The most vulnerable activities made me feel exposed, but made me feel so safe in such a welcoming environment.” - 11th grade Pathfinder participant, summer 2019
Because self-efficacy is both domain-based and transferrable, we work to build girls’ self-efficacy in six core domains, our Six Cs: confidence, communication, collaboration, creativity, critical thinking and coping skills. A girl might practice creativity and coping skills by using tissue paper, pipe cleaners, and popsicle sticks to build a buddy to remind her that she can always lean on her friends when she is going through a tough time. This fun activity builds helps her practice a skill, and the next time she experiences bullying or is worried about a bad grade, she can remember to get support for her friends. As we give girls opportunities to build their self-efficacy in each of these domains, we help them increase their overall self-efficacy.
“I've seen girls grow emotionally. They have learned to talk their problems out, and I have also seen them stop attacking each other emotionally and physically.” - 2019-2020 Girl Connect school champion
In all of our program formats, we aim to increase girls’ self-efficacy. At the beginning and end of our programs, girls take surveys measuring different skills within the Six Cs. Across all programs in our 2018-2019 program year:
Collaboration: 93% of girls agreed[i] with the statement “I feel comfortable working with people who are different than me.”
Critical Thinking: 90% of girls agreed[i] with the statement “I can solve problems if I give them my best effort.”
Confidence: 89% of girls agreed[i] with the statement “I believe I can achieve my goals.”
In summer 2019, we started analyzing how girls’ self-efficacy grows in our programs, comparing girls’ scores in each of the Six C domains at the beginning and end of our program. Our pilot findings from our 2019 Pathfinder Leadership Summit in Austin and Houston and from a 3-week virtual Girl Connect in Spring 2020 both found statistically significant[ii] growth in the Six Cs. Our virtual Girl Connect participants also showed significant reductions in trauma symptoms[iii] and significant increases in trauma coping self-efficacy[iv], an essential skill for mental health in the era of COVID-19.
“We do pre- and post-test with our caseload. I can see what a difference it makes on paper with real numbers and in the girls themselves. I have seen them mature, handle conflicts more positively, that I think is directly related to gains they make in their own confidence. This is a program that is easy for me to get girls involved. They love it and it works.” - 2019-2020 Girl Connect school champion
We are at the early stages of understanding the longitudinal impact of our programs and look forward to learning from our findings about how we can best grow girls’ self-efficacy to ignite their power by teaching them the skills to thrive and believe in their ability to be unstoppable.
Bio: Sarah Miller-Fellows, PhD, MPH, is Director of Impact at Girls Empowerment Network. She has a decade of experience studying and working in advocacy for women and children’s health. In her free time, she enjoys listening to political and history podcasts, gardening, playing board games with friends, and sharing her love of nature and the Texas outdoors with her two children.
References:
Bandura, A. (1977). Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychological Review, 84(2), 191–215. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.84.2.191
Bandura, A. (2006). Guide for constructing self-efficacy scales. In F. Pajares & T. Urdan (Eds.), Self-efficacy beliefs of adolescents (Vol. 5, pp. 307–337). Information Age Publishing.
Bandura, A., Barbaranelli, C., Caprara, G. V., & Pastorelli, C. (2001). Self-efficacy beliefs as shapers of children’s aspirations and career trajectories. Child Development, 72(1), 187–206.
Behavioral Health Innovations. (2020). UCLA Brief COVID-19 Screen for Child/Adolescent PTSD. https://www.reactionindex.com/product/ucla-brief-covid-19-screen-for-child-adolescent-ptsd/
Benight, C. C., & Bandura, A. (2004). Social cognitive theory of posttraumatic recovery: The role of perceived self-efficacy. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 42(10), 1129–1148. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brat.2003.08.008
Benight, C. C., Shoji, K., James, L. E., Waldrep, E. E., Delahanty, D. L., & Cieslak, R. (2015). Trauma Coping Self-Efficacy: A Context Specific Self-Efficacy Measure for Traumatic Stress. Psychological Trauma : Theory, Research, Practice and Policy, 7(6), 591–599. https://doi.org/10.1037/tra0000045
Flatten, G., Wälte, D., & Perlitz, V. (2008). Self-efficacy in acutely traumatized patients and the risk of developing a posttraumatic stress syndrome. GMS Psycho-Social Medicine, 5. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2736512/
Gallagher, M. W., Long, L. J., & Phillips, C. A. (2020). Hope, optimism, self-efficacy, and posttraumatic stress disorder: A meta-analytic review of the protective effects of positive expectancies. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 76(3), 329–355. https://doi.org/10.1002/jclp.22882
Higgins, T. (2020, March 27). Coronavirus pandemic could inflict emotional trauma and PTSD on an unprecedented scale, scientists warn. CNBC. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/27/coronavirus-pandemic-could-inflict-long-lasting-emotional-trauma-ptsd.html
Makara-Studzińska, M., Golonka, K., & Izydorczyk, B. (2019). Self-Efficacy as a Moderator between Stress and Professional Burnout in Firefighters. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16(2). https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16020183
Newkirk II, V. R. (2020, March 24). The Kids Aren’t All Right. The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/03/what-coronavirus-will-do-kids/608608/
Pajares, F. (1996). Self-Efficacy Beliefs in Academic Settings. Review of Educational Research, 66(4), 543–578. https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543066004543
Richardson, M., Abraham, C., & Bond, R. (2012). Psychological correlates of university students’ academic performance: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 138(2), 353–387. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0026838
Salas, M. J. (2020, April 10). The COVID-19 Crisis Is a Trauma Pandemic in the Making. PsychCentral. //psychcentral.com/blog/the-covid-19-crisis-is-a-trauma-pandemic-in-the-making/
Usher, E. L., Li, C. R., Butz, A. R., & Rojas, J. P. (2019). Perseverant grit and self-efficacy: Are both essential for children’s academic success? Journal of Educational Psychology, 111(5), 877–902. https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000324
[i] Selected 3-5 on a 5 item Likert scale.
[ii] Using a two-tailed paired t-test, p<0.10.
[iii] Using UCLA Brief COVID-19 Screen for Child/Adolescent PTSD (Behavioral Health Innovations, 2020).
[iv] Using CSE-T scale (Benight et al., 2015).