Self-efficacy theory was proposed as an important determinant in Hispanic college student adjustment. Self-efficacy refers to the strength of a person's belief that they are able to produce a given behavior, and operationally. college self-efficacy was defined as a student's degree of confidence that they could successfully complete a given college-related task (e.g., taking notes, asking a question in class, etc.). The College Self-Efficacy Inventory was validated using a sample of 164 Mexican-American andLatino-American college students who responded to a survey questionnaire (response rate = 51.7%). Principal components analysis of the 20-item instrumentyielded three subscales: course efficacy (e.g., writing papers, doing well on ecxams), social efficacy (e.g., talking with professors, making friends at the university), and roommate efficacy (e.g., socializing with roommates, dividing apartment space). The subscales were found to have strong internal consistency and demonstrated good convergent and discriminant validity.

This study examined the construct of machismo in relationship to measures of machismo, masculinity, and gender role identity. One hundred forty-eight Latino men with an average age of 36, primarily Mexican American and Puerto Rican, participated. Results indicate that machismo can be characterized as a multidimensional construct, and cluster analyses found that traditional definitions of machismo as authoritarian, emotionally restrictive, and controlling represented only about 10% of the classified Latinos. Most of the sample identified with more emotionally responsive, collaborative, and flexible masculinity styles. Five identity dimensions identified were Contemporary Masculinity, Machismo, Traditional Machismo, Conflicted/Compassionate Machismo, and Contemporary Machismo. Implications include the need to change stereotypes of machismo to be more congruent with the variation in Latino male identity.

No abstract

Social and cognitive factors were investigated to determine whether self-efficacy and social support moderate the relationship between stress, andphysical andpsychological distress among Hispanic college students. A total of 164 Mexican American and Latin American undergraduates were surveyed (51% response rate). Self-efficacy and social support combined to account for 33% of the variance in college adjustment, with self-efficacy providing the largest contribution (R2Change 27%o). Hispanic students who perceived social support was available had lower distress ratings than students who perceived social support was less available, and social support wasfound to moderate the relationship between stress and distress. The complete regression model that included stress, self-efficacy, social support, acculturation, and gender accountedfor 46% of the variance in college distress.