This paper presents a critical appraisal of resilience, a construct connoting the maintenance of positive adaptation by individuals despite experiences of significant adversity. As empirical research on resilience has burgeoned in recent years, criticisms have been levied at work in this area. These critiques have generally focused on ambiguities in definitions and central terminology; heterogeneity in risks experienced and competence achieved by individuals viewed as resilient; instability of the phenomenon of resilience; and concerns regarding the usefulness of resilience as a theoretical construct. We address each identified criticism in turn, proposing solutions for those we view as legitimate and clarifying misunderstandings surrounding those we believe to be less valid. We conclude that work on resilience possesses substantial potential for augmenting the understanding of processes affecting at-risk individuals. Realization of the potential embodied by this construct, however, will remain constrained without continued scientific attention to some of the serious conceptual and methodological pitfalls that have been noted by skeptics and proponents alike.

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The Construct of Resilience: A Critical Evaluation and Guidelines for Future Work

The study of resilience in development has overturned many negative assumptions and deficit-focused models about children growing up under the threat of disadvantage and adversity. The most surprising conclusion emerging from studies of these children is the ordinariness of resilience. An examination of converging findings from variable-focused and person-focused investigations of these phenomena suggests that resilience is common and that it usually arises from the normative functions of human adaptational systems, with the greatest threats to human development being those that compromise these protective systems. The conclusion that resilience is made of ordinary rather than extraordinary processes offers a more positive outlook on human development and adaptation, as well as direction for policy and practice aimed at enhancing the development of children at risk for problems and psychopathology.

Ordinary magic. Resilience processes in development.

Arthur Chickering is Distinguished Professor of Higher Education at Memphis State University. On leave from the Directorship of the Center for the Study of Higher Education at Memphis State, he is Visiting Professor at George Mason University. Zelda Gamson is a sociologist who holds appointments at the John W. McCormack Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Massachusetts-Boston and in the Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education at the University of Michigan.

Seven principles for good practice in undergraduate education

The purpose of this article is to examine the contribution made by the self-efficacy component of Bandura’s (1986) social cognitive theory to the study of self-regulation and motivation in academic settings. The difference between self-efficacy beliefs and other expectancy constructs is first explained, followed by a brief overview of problems in self-efficacy research. Findings on the relationship between self-efficacy, motivation constructs, and academic performances are then summarized. These findings demonstrate that particularized measures of self-efficacy that correspond to the criterial tasks with which they are compared surpass global measures in the explanation and prediction of related outcomes. The conceptual difference between the definition and use of expectancy beliefs in social cognitive theory and in expectancy value and self-concept theory is then clarified. Last, strategies to guide future research are offered.

Self-Efficacy Beliefs in Academic Settings

The construct of self-efficacy has received increasing empirical attention in the organizational behavior literature. People who think they can perform well on a task do better than those who think they will fail. Differences in self-efficacy are associated with bona fide differences in skill level; however, efficacy perceptions also may be influenced by differences in personality, motivation, and the task itself. This article reviews theoretically the antecedent processes and information cues involved in the formation of self-efficacy. A model of the determinants of self-efficacy is proposed that enhances understanding of both the complexity and malleability of the construct. Determinants that facilitate the most immediate change in self-efficacy are identified, and appropriate change strategies are highlighted. Implications and propositions pertaining to future research are discussed at the end of the article.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/258770.pdf

Self-Efficacy: A Theoretical Analysis of Its Determinants and Malleability

This study examined the relation of self-efficacy beliefs to subjects' persistence and success in pursuing science and engineering college majors. Subjects were 42 students who participated in a 10-week career-planning course on science and engineering fields. They completed several measures of self-efficacy , involving their perceived ability to fulfill the educational requirements and job duties of a variety of technical/sci entific occupations. Findings indicated that subjects reporting high self-efficacy for educational requirements generally achieved higher grades and persisted longer in technical/scientific majors over the following year than those with low self-efficacy. Self-efficacy was also moderately correlated with objective predictors of academic aptitude and achievement. Implications for the further extension of self-efficacy theory to educational and vocational behavior are discussed. Bandura (1977, 1982) has recently proposed a theoretical framework to explain and predict behavior change. Essentially, he has suggested that behavior changes achieved by diverse methods are mediated by a common cognitive mechanism. Self-efficacy expectations, meaning beliefs about one's ability to successfully perform a given task or behavior, are hypothesized to determine whether coping behavior will be initiated, how much effort will be expended, and how long effort will be sustained in the face of obstacles and aversive experiences. Thus far, perceived self-efficacy has been studied in relation to a variety of clinical problems such as snake phobias (Bandura & Adams, 1977), social skills (Moe & Zeiss, 1982), and smoking cessation maintenance (DiClemente, 1981). Results have generally suggested that persons' efficacy expectations are useful in predicting behavior change independently of the different treatment approaches used. Recently, Hackett and Betz (1981) have extended self-efficacy theory to vocational behavior, hypothesizing that ex

https://psycnet.apa.org/journals/cou/31/3/356.pdf

Relation of self-efficacy expectations to academic achievement and persistence.

This study explored the relation of self-efficacy beliefs to educational/vocational choice and performance, assessing the extent to which efficacy beliefs, in concert with other relevant variables, predict academic grades, persistence, and perceived career options in students considering science and engineering fields. Subjects were 105 undergraduates who participated in a career planning course on science and engineering fields. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that self-efficacy contributed significant unique variance to the prediction of grades, persistence, and range of perceived career options in technical/scientific fields. The two self-efficacy scales used were moderately intercorrelated but differentially related to previous academic performance; neither scale was significantly related to general selfesteem or career indecision. Implications for further career self-efficacy research, and for career and academic counseling, are discussed.

Self-efficacy in the prediction of academic performance and perceived career options.

This study examined the associations of stress exposure to various aspects of school-based competence in a normative sample of 205 children aged 8–13. Potential moderators of these relations, including child attributes of sex and IQ, and environmental attributes of socioeconomic status (SES) and family qualities, were also studied. Stress exposure was indexed by a life event questionnaire. Competence was assessed by teacher ratings, peer assessments and school record data. Family attributes were derived from a set of rating scales completed by interviewers after 6 hours of interviews with a parent. Results suggest that the relations of stress exposure to competence vary as a function of individual differences as well as the competence criterion. Disadvantaged children, with lower IQ and SES, and less positive family qualities, were generally less competent and more likely to be disruptive at high stress levels. Advantaged children were more competent, and with stress were less positively engaged in school, but were not likely to be disruptive. Boys were less socially competent than girls and, when stress was high, appeared to be less protected by positive family qualities. Causal hypotheses for future research in this area are discussed.

Competence and stress in school children: the moderating effects of individual and family qualities

Comparison of Three Theoretically Derived Variables in Predicting Career and Academic Behavior: Self-Efficacy, Interest Congruence, and Consequence Thinking.

Kevin C. Larkin

Papers

Relation of self-efficacy expectations to academic achievement and persistence.

Self-efficacy in the prediction of academic performance and perceived career options.

Competence and stress in school children: the moderating effects of individual and family qualities

Comparison of Three Theoretically Derived Variables in Predicting Career and Academic Behavior: Self-Efficacy, Interest Congruence, and Consequence Thinking.

Self-efficacy as a moderator of scholastic aptitude: Academic performance relationships.