Self-efficacy or ‘Mastery’ simply reflects a person’s confidence to exert control over their motivation, behaviour and social environment, to achieve a goal (Bandura, 1977). A high sense of mastery is expected to reduce psychological distress and increase well-being physically
The scale below measures the extent to which an individual regards himself as in control of his life, determining its direction or as being governed by forces that are outside his control (e.g., fatalistic attitude)
1. INSTRUCTIONS:
For each item, please rate how much you agree/disagree with the statement on a scale from 1 to 4 as follows:
1 = Strongly Agree, 2 = Somewhat Agree, 3 = Somewhat Disagree, 4 = Strongly Disagree
2. QUESTIONNAIRE
1. There is really no way I can solve some of the problems I have
2. Sometimes I feel that I am being pushed around in life
3. I have little control over the things that happen to me
*4. I can do just about anything I really set my mind to
5. I often feel helpless in dealing with the problems in my life
*6. What happens to me in the future mostly depends on me
7. There is little I can do to change many of the important things in my life
*Item is reverse coded
3. SCORING
Items are summed, yielding a range from 7 to 28. Higher scores indicate greater levels of mastery.
Items 4 and 6 require reverse coding as follows:
4 = Strongly Agree, 3 = Somewhat Agree, 2 = Somewhat Disagree, 1 = Strongly Disagree
For example, if you answer “Strongly Agree” on item 4, the “1” turns into a “4” and therefore your final score for this item will be “4”
Source: Pearlin & Schooler, 1978
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