Based on social-cognitive theory (Bandura, 1997), this paper examined whether perceived self-efficacy is a universal psychological construct that accounts for variance within various domains of human functioning. Perceived self-efficacy is not only of a task-specific nature, but it can also be identified at a more general level of functioning. General self-efficacy (GSE) is the belief in one's competence to tackle novel tasks and to cope with adversity in a broad range of stressful or challenging encounters, as opposed to specific self-efficacy, which is constrained to a particular task at hand. The study aimed at exploring the relations between GSE and a variety of other psychological constructs across several countries. Relations between general self-efficacy and personality, well-being, stress appraisals, social relations, and achievements were examined among 8796 participants from Costa Rica, Germany, Poland, Turkey, and the USA. Across countries, the findings provide evidence for associations between perceived general self-efficacy and the selected variables. The highest positive associations were with optimism, self-regulation, and self-esteem, whereas the highest negative associations emerged with depression and anxiety. Academic performance is also associated with self-efficacy as hypothesized. The replication across languages or cultures adds significance to these findings. The relations between self-efficacy and other personality measures remained stable across cultures and samples. Thus, perceived general self-efficacy appears to be a universal construct that yields meaningful relations with other psychological constructs.S e basant sur la théorie sociale-cognitive (Bandura, 1997), l'efficacité de soi perçue fut examinée comme un construit psychologique universel contribuant à la variance dans divers domaines du fonctionnement humain. L'efficacité de soi perçue n'est pas seulement reliée à une tâ che de nature spécifique, mais elle peut aussi être identifiée comme un niveau de fonctionnement plus général. L'efficacité de soi générale est la croyance qu'une personne possède la compétence pour faire face aux tâ ches nouvelles et pour gérer l'adversité dans un large éventail d'événements représentant un stress ou un défi, à l'opposé de l'efficacité de soi spécifique qui est restreinte à une tâ che particulière. Cette étude visait à explorer les relations entre l'efficacité de soi générale et une variété d'autres construits psychologiques à travers les pays. Les relations entre l'efficacité de soi générale et la personnalité, le bien-être, l'évaluation du stress, les relations sociales et les accomplissements furent examinées parmi 8,796 participants du Costa Rica, de l'Allemagne, de la Pologne, de la Turquie et des É tats-Unis. À travers ces pays, les résultats fournissent des évidences d'associations entre l'efficacité de soi générale et les variables sélectionnées. Les plus fortes associations positives furent avec l'optimisme, l'autorégulation et l'estime de soi, tandis que les plus fortes association...

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Dietary planning is supposed to mediate between intentions and dietary behaviors. However, if a person lacks self-efficacy, this mediation might fail. A cross-sectional study in Costa Rica and a longitudinal study in South Korea were designed to examine the moderating role of self-efficacy in the intentionplanning-behavior relationship. Intentions, planning, self-efficacy, dietary behaviors, and baseline diet were assessed. Study 1 included 245 women; Study 2 included 358 women. Moderated mediation models were specified in which planning served as a mediator between intentions and behavior. Self-efficacy was specified as a moderator of the intention-planning-behavior relationship. Intentions were translated into dietary behavior by planning. However, levels of self-efficacy moderated this mediation process: The strength of the mediated effect increased along with levels of self-efficacy, even when accounting for baseline dietary behaviors. For planning to mediate the First publ. in: Applied Psychology: Health and Well-being, 1 (2009) intention-behavior relation, people must harbor sufficient levels of selfefficacy. If they lack self-efficacy, either intentions are not well translated into planning, or planning is not well translated into behavior. Further research needs to clarify under which circumstances the moderator effect of self-efficacy operates in the first phase or the second phase of the mediation process.

Types and sources of received support among 902 Costa Rican employees were examined; gender and age differences as well as associations with mental health were considered. Four types of support (advice giving, assistance, reassurance, and empathic listening) were measured as received from four sources, namely friends, family, spouses, and groups/organizations. Support types were not very distinct, therefore we aggregated sum scores across these variables. In contrast, sources were discriminant and had to be analyzed separately. An interaction between gender and age pointed to a larger discrepancy of received spousal support in middle-aged men and women than in younger ones. The older the women were, the less support they received from their spouses. In addition to this interaction, further gender differences emerged at the correlation level, where the association between spousal support and depression was significant for men only.

Receiving social support from relatives shortly after an earthquake was found to be an important coping resource, as it alleviated the association between resource loss and the severity of posttraumatic stress response, compensated for deficits of self-efficacy, and enabled self-efficacy, which was in turn associated with more adaptive adjustment 3 years after the earthquake.