A study on general self-efficacy and subjective well-being of low SES-college students in a Chinese university

College Student Journal, Dec, 2004 by Yuehua Tong, Shanggui Song

The present study was to examine the characteristics of general self-efficacy and subjective well-being and their relations in low SES college students in China. 102 low SES college students and 164 regular college students were administered on General Self-Efficacy Scale and Index of Well-Being, Index of General Affect. Low SES college students scored significantly lower than their peers on general self-efficacy and subjective well-being. Significant gender differences were not found. Individuals with stronger general self-efficacy reported higher level of subjective well-being. General self-efficacy of low SES college students had significantly positive correlation with General Affect, Life Satisfaction and Well-Being. Research results indicated that SES had an important effect on general self-efficacy and subjective well-being. General self-efficacy was positively related to subjective well-being.

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Low SES college students as a disadvantaged group have drawn greater attention in China in recent years. Some researchers in China focused on investigations on mental health concerns, social support, and coping styles in low SES college students (Song, 2002; Xu, 2001; Zhang, 1998; Zhang, Liu, & Li, 2000). However, few studies tapped this population's general self-efficacy and subjective well-being. Bandura (1997) defines self efficacy as "people's judgments of their capabilities to organize and execute courses of action required to attain designated types of performances" (p. 391). Self-efficacy is commonly understood as being domain-specific. But some researchers have also conceptualized a generalized sense of self-efficacy (Schwarzer, 1994; Zhang, 1995). General self-efficacy (GSE) refers to a global confidence in one's coping ability across a wide range of demanding or novel situations. General self-efficacy aims at a broad and stable sense of personal competence to deal effectively with a variety of stressful situations (Scherer et al., 1982; Schwarzer, 1994). Research reported that GSE was related to physical and mental health (Wang, & Liu, 2000). Subjective well-being (SWB) represents people's evaluations of their life, and includes happiness, pleasant emotions, life satisfaction, and a relative absence of unpleasant moods and emotions (Diener, 1999). SWB is an important indicator of psychological health. The present study was to examine GSE, SWB, and the relations of these two constructs among low SES college students in China.

Method

Participants

Two hundred and sixty-six college students from a comprehensive university in China participated in this study and completed all the measures. The subjects were one hundred thirty-three males and one hundred thirty-three females. Among the participants, one hundred and two participants were low SES students with fifty-two males and fifty females.

Instruments

Demographic Questionnaire. Students were asked to indicate their gender, age, and basic information about their family background (urban or rural resident status, parents occupations, and average income per person per month).

General self-efficacy. The Generalized Self-Efficacy Scale (GSES) is a 10-item psychometric scale designed to assess optimistic self-beliefs to cope with a variety of difficult demands in life. The scale has been originally developed in German by Matthias Jerusalem and Ralf Schwarzer (1992). In samples from 23 nations, Cronbach's alphas ranged from 0.76 to 0.90, with the majority in the high 0.80s. Validated by Zhang (1995) and Wang (1998), the Chinese version had satisfactory validity and reliability.

Subjective well-being. Index of WellBeing, Index of General Affect is a two-part self-rated measure assessing general affect and life satisfaction (Campbell et al, 1976). General Affect Scale is composed of 8 items and Life Satisfaction Scale has one item. The Chinese version of this scale was shown to have adequate internal consistency (Li et al., 2000; Wang, 1998).

Procedures

All study measures were administered to participants in a group session which was part of a support project for low SES college students. Students were unaware of the purpose of the study until the study was completed.

According to the related studies, the criteria defining low SES college students in China were based on local minimum social security standard and average annual income per person in the family. Therefore, in the present study, students from a family whose average income per month is below two hundred RMB (around 24 dollars) would meet the criteria of low SES college students.

Results

GES and SWB in Low SES College Students

Means and Standard Deviations for all measures are presented in Table 1. As the table shows, there were significant differences in GES, Index of General Affect and Index of Well-being between low SES students and regular students. No significant difference was found in Life Satisfaction between the two groups although low SES students reported lower life satisfaction.

Based on mean and standard deviation of GSE in low SES students (2.61 [ or -] 0.49), low SES students were categorized into three groups: High Score Group (5 students, M > 3.1), Average Group (77 students, 2.12 [less than or equal to] M [less than or equal to] 3.1), and Low Score Group (20 students, M<2.12). F values indicated significant differences in General Affect, Life Satisfaction, and Index of Well-Being among these three groups.