Abstract
The present study tested the hypothesis that perceived self-efficacy to resist peer pressure for high-risk activities is related to transgressive conduct, both directly and through the mediation of open familial communication. Adolescents rated their self-regulatory efficacy, openness of communication with parents, and their involvement in delinquent conduct and substance abuse. Results of structural equation modeling confirmed that a high sense of efficacy to ward off negative peer influences was accompanied by open communication with parents about activities outside the home and by low engagement in delinquent conduct and substance abuse. Both the posited direct and mediated paths of influences were replicated for males and females, although girls exhibited a slightly weaker direct relationship between self-regulatory efficacy and transgressive conduct. The combined influence of self-regulatory efficacy and supportive parental communication and monitoring accounted for a substantial share of the variance in delinquent conduct and substance abuse. A test of an alternative causal model, that engagement in transgressive activities undermines self-regulatory efficacy and familial communication and monitoring practices, provided a poor fit to the data.
References
(1978). The classification of child psychopathology: A review and analysis of empirical efforts. Psychological Bulletin, 85, 1275-1301.
(1986). Social foundations of thought and action. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
(1991). Social cognitive theory of self-regulation. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 50, 248-287.
(1997a). Self efficacy: The exercise of control. New York: Freeman.
(1997b). Health promotion from the perspective of social cognitive theory. Psychology and Health: An International Journal, 1-27.
(in press). A social cognitive theory of personality. In L. PervinO. JohnEds., Handbook of personality (2nd ed.). New York: Guilford Press.
(1996a). Multifaceted impact of self-efficacy beliefs on academic functioning. Child Development, 67, 1206-1222.
(1996b). Mechanisms of moral disengagement in the exercise of moral agency. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 71, 364-374.
(1998a). Self-efficacy pathways to childhood depression. Paper submitted for publication.
(1998b). Efficacy beliefs as shapers of aspirations and occupational trajectories. In preparation.
(1959). Adolescent aggression. New York: Ronald Press.
(1982). Parent-adolescent communication. In D. H. OlsonH. I., McCubbinH. BarnesA. LarsenM. MuxenM. WilsonEds., Family inventories (pp. 55-70). St. Paul, MN: Family Social Science, University of Minnesota.
(1995). EQS Structural Equations Program Manual. Encino, CA: Multivariate Software, Inc.
(1989). Structural equations with latent variables. New York: Wiley.
(1994). Testing the factorial validity, replication, and invariance of a measuring instrument: A paradigmatic application based on the Maslach Burnout Inventory. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 29, 289-311.
(1989). Psychometric properties of fifteen latent constructs from the coercion model. New York: Springer-Verlag.
(1996). Structures and processes in personality psychology. European Psychologist, 1, 14-26.
(1993). Health-enhancing and health compromising lifestyles. In S. G. MilsteinA. C. PetersenE. O. NightingaleEds., Promoting the health of adolescents. New directions for the twenty-first century (pp. 119-145). New York: Oxford University Press.
(1983). Adolescent development in the family. London: Jossey Bass.
(1995). Self-efficacy in career choice and development. In A. BanduraEd., Self-efficacy in changing societies. New York: Cambridge University Press.
(1992). Today's children: Creating a future for a generation in crisis. New York: Times Books.
(1986). Adolescent problem drinking: Psychosocial aspects and developmental outcomes. In R. K. SilbereisenEds., Development as action in context (pp. 241-264). Berlin: Springer-Verlag.
(1995). Patterns of development during adolescence. In M. RutterD. SmithEds. Psychosocial disorders in young people (pp. 67-103). Chichester, UK: Wiley.
(1994). Toward an unifying social cognitive theory of career and academic interest, choice and performance. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 45, 79-122.
(1990). Development and risk factors of juvenile antisocial behavior and delinquency. Clinical Psychology Review, 10, 1-41.
(in press). Parent-adolescent interactions and psycho-social risk in adolescents: An analysis of communication, support and gender. Journal of Adolescence,
(1993). Adolescence-limited and life-course-persistent antisocial behavior. Psychological Review, 100, 674-701.
(1994). Relationships with parents in adolescence: Process and outcome. In R. MontemayorG. AdamsT. GullottaEds., Personal relationships during adolescence (pp. 37-77). London: Sage.
(in press). Self-efficacy beliefs in academic settings. Review of Educational Research.
(1984). Family interaction: A process model of deviancy training. Aggressive Behavior, 10, 253-267.
(1992). Antisocial boys. Eugene, OR: Castalia Publishing.
(1990). The developmental course of perceived competence and incompetence among competent children. In R. J. SternbergJ. Kolligian, Jr.Eds., Competence considered (pp. 41-66). New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
(1990). Straight and devious pathways from childhood to adulthood. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
(1990). Risk and protective factors in development of psychopathology. New York: Cambridge University Press.
(1995). Psicologia sociale della famiglia. [Social psychology of the family]. Torino: Boringhieri.
(1995). Impact of family processes on control beliefs. In A. BanduraEd., Self-efficacy in changing societies (pp. 114-148). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
(1989). Self-efficacy and cognitive skill learning. In C. AmesR. AmesEds., Research on motivation in education, Vol. 3: Goals and cognitions (pp. 13-44). San Diego: Academic Press.
(1995). Sex-race differences in social support and depression in older low-income adults. In R. H. HoyleEd., Structural equation modeling. Concepts, issues, and applications (pp. 199-216). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
(1989). Adolescence. New York: Knopf.
(1985). Adolescent relations with mothers, fathers and friends. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
(1995). Self-efficacy and educational development. In A. BanduraEd., Self-efficacy in changing societies (pp. 202-231). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
(1992). Self-motivation for academic attainment: The role of self-efficacy beliefs and personal goal setting. American Education Research Journal, 29, 663-676.
