Description

Designed to gauge overall perceived self-efficacy, the General Self-Efficacy Scale (GSE) aims to predict how well individuals manage everyday hassles and adapt after a wide range of stressful experiences. Each item emphasizes effective coping and assumes that success stems from enduring, internal factors. Originally a 20-item measure, this scale was condensed to 10 items in later revisions. It is intended for use with the general population, encompassing adults as well as adolescents. For each item, there is a 4-point response scale. The score for each of the 10 items are summed to give a total score. The higher the score, the greater is the individual’s generalized sense of self-efficacy.

AI/AN Communities where the measure has been used

Southwest tribal communities; upper Midwest

Demographics of AI/AN participants where the scale has been used

Women ages 14+ with young children

Notes on adaptations or modifications

  1. Minor language changes were made to some items for clarity
  2. Adapted response scale options to 1 = Never, 2 = Some of the time, 3 = Most of the time, 4 = All of the time

Modality and administration

Self-report; this measure is administered using paper and pencil or a tablet

Scoring

For each item, there is a 4-point response scale ranging from 1 (Never) to 4 (All of the time). The score for each of the 10 items are summed to give a total score. The higher the score, the greater is the individual’s generalized sense of self-efficacy

Psychometric evidence

(Schwarzer & Jerusalem, 1995) “High internal consistency ratings have been found for each of the five samples studies and alphas ranged from 0.82 to 0.93).” See ‘Evaluation and psychometric status’ for further validity.

Citation(s)

Schwarzer, R., & Jerusalem, M. (1995). General Self-Efficacy Scale. PsycTESTS Dataset. https://doi.org/10.1037/t00393-000