Perceived Self-Efficacy and its Relationship to Resilience

Abstract

The construct of perceived self-efficacy is the belief that one can perform novel or difficult tasks and attain desired outcomes, as spelled out in the Social Cognitive Theory (Bandura, 1997). This "can do"cognition reflects a sense of control over one's environment and an optimistic belief of being able to alter challenging environmental demands by means of one's own behavior Hence, it represents a self-confident view of one's capability to deal with certain stressors in life. Resilience, on the other hand, is mainly defined by coping adaptively with traumatic stressors. Hence, it is closely linked to the occurrence of demanding situations that one has to overcome. Resilient persons bend without breaking, and they quickly rebound from adversity, which reflects the "ordinary magic" of human adaptive systems (Masten, 2001). The concept of resilience is a multifaceted construct that also comprises several other personal resources, such as self-esteem, optimism, coping strategies, or good social relations (Condly, 2006). Resilience is usually understood as the ability to resist or bounce back from adversity (Bonanno, Brewin, Kaniasty, & La Greca, 2010; Tedeschi & Calhoun, 1995). The focus of this chapter is the relationship between perceived self-efficacy and resilience. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved)