The enhancement of social self-efficacy and its relationship to the maintenance and generalization of self-control skills

The role of social self-efficacy and its relationship to the maintenance and generalization of social skills was examined. It was hypothesized that in order for social skills training to be effective and to generalize across settings, it was necessary for poorly self-controlled youngsters who perceived themselves to be low in social self-efficacy to learn to act assertively and to concomitantly increase their efficacy perceptions. Moreover, it was hypothesized that the students receiving Structured Learning Therapy (SLT) would increase their social self-efficacy and their self-control skills more than the attention-control group, and that these gains would be maintained after the training was completed. Twenty-six children who were identified as being deficient in self-control and low in social self-efficacy were randomly assigned to one of two groups: (a) Structured Learning Therapy (SLT) or (b) an attention-control group. All subjects were measured before the program, after a 12-session training program, and 4 weeks after the training was completed on the Self-Control Rating Scale and the Children\u27s Self-Efficacy for Peer Interaction Scale. The results indicated that the intervention used with the SLT group was not significantly better than the intervention the attention-control group received in improving either their social self-efficacy perception or their self-control at the time of the posttest or at the follow-up. However, it was found that regardless of the treatment used, for the majority of the students, those who significantly improved in self-efficacy also improved in self-control and interpersonal skills at the end of the training and at the 4-week follow-up. The findings were interpreted as supporting the theory that self-efficacy affects whether or not a person attempts a specific behavior and will continue in that behavior even in the face of obstacles. By teaching the children to be assertive, to maintain self-control, and by concurrently enhancing their self-efficacy, the various treatments provided them with the ability to handle situations outside of training and to maintain their skills even after training had ended