Issue 3/4 Vol. 33 1991

General self-efficacy and differential processes of stress

JERUSALEM, M.

According to the transactional stress theory (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984, 1987), cognitive appraisals refer to the stakes a person has in a stressful encounter and to the coping options. They result in either challenge, threat, or harm/loss. Personal resources and environmental demands can be seen as antecedents of these appraisals. It is undetermined, however, whether appraisals can occur simultaneously and how they are interrelated over time. An idealized motivation model has been established to stimulate research on this issue. The present experiment has been set up to assess the dynamic pattern of cognitive appraisals at nine points in time under stress, defined as continuous failure at demanding academic tasks. General self-efficacy as a personal resource was used as a between-groups factor. Very different patterns of appraisals emerged for low and high self-efficacious subjects, indicating that high self-efficacy buffers the experience of stress, whereas low self-efficacy puts individuals at risk for a dramatic increase in appraisals of incompetence, threat and loss.

Keywords: self-efficacy, stress

Short Title: Jerusalem, M. (1991) PsyBeit 3-4:388

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