The role of self-efficacy and self-esteem in the adolescent

A primary component in the building and maintenance of physical, emotional and spiritual well-being is self-esteem. Healthy self-esteem encompasses feelings of actual and perceived competency and self-efficacy, as well as feelings of being lovable or approved of.

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Bandura (1977) defined self-efficacy as the belief that we are capable of doing something and that we can influence events that affect our lives.

Self-esteem, of which self-efficacy forms part, is undoubtedly a valuable psychological resource. Maslow (1973, p 121) argued that self-esteem was not only necessary for well- being, but that the need for self-esteem is genetically programmed into human beings. Self- esteem has its roots in the development of the self-concept, which includes the overall view that human beings have of themselves. Harter (1999, p. 81) describes the self-concept as “a composite image of what we think we are, what we think we can achieve, what we think others think of us and what we would like to be”. Individuals generally behave according to the internal picture of their self-concept.

An important aspect of healthy self-esteem is the way in which individuals evaluate their self-concept, usually in comparison with the ideal self. It is important to distinguish between self-evaluations that represent global characteristics of the individual, and those that reflect the individual’s sense of adequacy across particular domains such as, for example, cognitive competence, social competence and athletic competence (Harter, 1999). Self-evaluation is heavily influenced by the way in which individuals perceive other people’s reactions to themselves. Individuals evaluate the reactions of the significant people in their lives, to determine whether they are loved, accepted and approved of. This process starts with a young child’s earliest interactions, where “the infant needs to be able to discover his/her capacity to light up the mother’s face – for here is to be found the fundamental basis of … self-esteem” (Casement, 1990, p.93).

Self-efficacy, in general, involves own “beliefs in one’s capabilities to mobilize the motivation, cognitive resources, and courses of action needed to meet the given situational demands” (Woolfolk, 2010). Self-efficacy is a socially constructed individual attribute, described as a complex and malleable construct rather than a personality trait (Pajares & Miller, 1995). It is associated with Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory, which postulates a triadic, reciprocal, causal relationship between individuals’ social environments, behaviours and cognitions (Bandura, 1986). In an academic context, self-efficacy refers to the subjective belief that one can successfully carry out given academic tasks at designated levels (Bong, 2004; Woolfolk, 2010).

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Further, self-efficacy has important implications for behaviours in a variety of life domains, throughout an individual’s life course (Grabowski, Thiede-Call, & Mortimer, 2001). In research literature it is indicated that sources of self-efficacy emerge in several important social environments or contexts, such as family, recreation, faith traditions and beliefs (Staples, Schwalbe & Gecas, 1984), with most focusing on processes that unfold in the workplace or educational settings.

Bandura (1977) suggested that people who have perceptions of high self-efficacy often perform better than those who have an equal ability but lesser belief in themselves; they are more likely to persevere with difficult tasks and to use more effective problem-solving strategies, and they also have a tendency to set themselves more demanding goals and to focus less on the possible consequences of failure. Bandura illustrated how children internalise the standards of those adults who are important to them and how these standards then become self-imposed. He argued that these self-controlled consequences of behaviour occasionally become more powerful than consequences from the external environment (Bandura, 1977).

The effects of self-efficacy beliefs on cognitive processes take on a variety of outcomes. Human behaviour is regulated to a large extent by forethought embodying cognised goals. Personal goal-setting is influenced by self-appraisal capabilities. The stronger the perceived self-efficacy, the higher the goal challenges people set for themselves, and the firmer the commitment is towards the goal (Bandura, 1991).

The conception of human ability has undergone significant change. Ability is not a fixed attribute, located in an individual’s behavioural repertoire; it is now seen as a generative capability in which cognitive, social, motivational, and behavioural skills must be organised and effectively orchestrated to serve a variety of purposes. It further involves skill in managing aversive emotional reactions that can impair the quality of thinking and action. There is a clear difference between possessing knowledge and skills, and being able to use them well under challenging conditions (Bandura, 1977).

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The self-efficacy contribution to skill utilisation is illustrated in a study by Collins (1982). She illustrated that positive attitudes towards mathematics were better predicted by perceived self-efficacy than by actual ability. This study illustrates that individuals who perform poorly may do so because they lack skills, or because they have the skills, but lack the sense of efficacy to use them well. Wood and Bandura (1989) tested the notion that conceptions of ability affect thought processes and performance attainment through the self-efficacy mechanism. A group of individuals that viewed ability as reflecting an inherent intellectual aptitude revealed plummeting levels of efficacy as they encountered problems and they further became erratic in their analytic thinking. The group that viewed conception of ability as an acquirable skill fostered a highly resilient sense of personal efficacy. Individuals under this belief system remained steadfast in their perceived efficacy, continued to set challenging goals, and used analytical strategies in efficient ways.

Self-belief of efficacy plays a key role in the self-regulation of motivation. Most human motivation is cognitively generated. Individuals motivate themselves and guide their actions anticipatorily by the action of forethought. In this way they form beliefs about what they can do. They anticipate likely outcomes of prospective actions. They further set goals for themselves and plan courses of action designed to realise possible and valued futures. Forethought is translated into incentives and appropriate action through self-regulatory mechanisms (Bandura, 1991).

A distinction can be made between three different forms of cognitive motivators. These include casual attributions, outcome expectancies, and cognised goals. Self-efficacy beliefs operate in these various forms of cognitive motivation. These beliefs influence casual attributions. Individuals who view themselves as highly efficacious contribute their failures to insufficient effort, and those who regard themselves as inefficacious attribute their failures to low ability (Alden, 1986; Collins, 1982). Casual attributions affect motivation performance and affective reactions mainly through beliefs of self-efficacy (Chwalisz, Altmaier & Russel, 1992).

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Expectancy-value theory departs from the premise that motivation is governed by the expectation that behaviour will produce certain outcomes. The motivating potential of outcome expectancies is partly governed by self-beliefs of capability (De Vries, Dijkstra & Kuhlman, 1988).

The capacity to exercise self-influence by personal challenge and evaluative reaction to an individual’s own attainments provides a major cognitive mechanism of motivation. A large body of evidence indicates that explicit, challenging goals enhance and sustain motivation. Goals operate largely through self-influence processes rather than regulate motivation and action directly (Locke & Latham, 1990).

In order to understand the cognitive functioning of an adolescent as being dependent in part on social-cognitive influences in the form of, among others, a sense of self-efficacy and interactive relations with different aspects of the environment in which they function, it seems also imperative to explore the neurological development that occurs during the adolescent phase.