Abstract
The general self-efficacy scale: psychometric data from the Spanish adaptation. The main objective of the present paper is to report psychometric properties (reliability, validity and normative data) of the Spanish adaptation of the General Self-Efficacy Scale (Baessler y Schwarcer, 1996). The construct of general self-efficacy is refered to people's stable believe about their ability to appropiately manage a wide kind of life stresors. A change in the original response format (10 points Likert type scales instead of 4 points) was introduced in order to adapt the scale to other instruments applied in the research. A high internal consistency (between 0.79 and 0.93) has been obtained in previous studies carried out with samples of several nationalities (i.e. from Germany, Costa Rica, etc.). In the present study, the scale was applied to a sample of 259 Spanish university students. An α coefficient of 0.87 and a two-halves correlation of 0.88 were found. Correlations between the General Self-Efficacy Scale and other measures also related to control perception or to the perception of resources to solve the task were presented Normative data of the Scale scores were also included. Finally its predictive validity over the coping style (centered in the task and in the emotion) was analyzed via regression analyses. The preliminary results informed show that the scale has got a suitable reliability, and a considerable predictive value, which guarantee its usefulness in studies about performance, health and emotional processes.
