Examining The Effect Of Feminist Self-Labeling And Feminist Perspectives On Young Adults\u27 Self-Efficacy

The current study utilized data from young adults (undergraduate and graduate students) in order to examine the effect of feminist self-identification (as measured by the Self-Identification as a Feminist Scale) and feminist perspectives (as measured by the Feminist Perspectives Scale—Short Form) on self-efficacy (as measured by General Self-Efficacy Scale total scores). Additionally, this study examined the relationship between demographics (i.e., gender, race) and outcome variables of interest (i.e., feminist self-identification, feminist perspectives, self-efficacy). Participants included 305 individuals who are at least 18 years old and enrolled as undergraduate or graduate students at the University of South Carolina. Multiple regression assessed the relationships among the constructs of feminist self-identification, feminist perspectives, and self-efficacy, while a factorial MANOVA examined differences among demographics (i.e., race, gender) for the variables of interest (i.e., feminist self-identification, feminist perspectives, self-efficacy). Results indicated that feminist behavior (a component of feminist perspectives) is a significant predictor of self-efficacy, and women had higher ratings than men for feminist identification and feminist perspectives. No significant differences existed between White and non-White participants for feminist identification, feminist perspectives, or self-efficacy. A discussion of results, implications for practice, and study limitations are provided