520 Part VI Learning-Cognitive Theories
that they can perform difficult tasks—then, in fact, they become able to cope with
previously intimidating situations.Related Research
The social cognitive theory of Albert Bandura continues to produce a great deal
of research in several domains of psychology, with the concept of self-efficacy
alone generating several hundred studies a year. Self-efficacy has been applied to
a wide variety of domains, including academic performance, work production,
depression, escaping homelessness, coping with terrorism, and health-related
behaviors. We focus on how self-efficacy can be applied in three important social
domains, namely promotion of health, bullying, and world population growth.Self-Efficacy and Diabetes
One of the ways in which Albert Bandura’s social cognitive theory has had the
greatest impact on the daily lives of many individuals is in the promotion of health
and the prevention of disease. Bandura himself has written about the usefulness of
his theory for encouraging people to engage in healthy behaviors that can increase
overall well-being, health, and longevity (Bandura, 1998b).
Recently, William Sacco and colleagues (2007) studied Bandura’s construct of
self-efficacy as it relates to Type 2 diabetes. Diabetes is a chronic disease that requires
very careful management including a special diet and exercise regime. Diabetes pres-
ents people with a variety of physical challenges, but it also is associated with sig-
nificant mental health challenges. Indeed, the prevalence of depression among those
with diabetes is double that of the general population (Anderson, Freedland, Clouse,
& Lustman, 2001). One of the hallmark traits of depression is a lack of motivation
and, given the strict diet and exercise plan diabetes patients must adhere to, this is
particularly problematic for those trying to manage diabetes. The less patients adhere
to their disease management plan the greater their diabetes symptoms become, which
creates a downward spiral with negative implications for physical and mental health.
Sacco and his colleagues (2007) therefore sought to explore the role of self-
efficacy as a variable that could increase adherence to the disease management plan
and decrease negative physical and mental health symptoms. Their prediction was that
the greater level of self-efficacy patients felt, the more likely people would be to adhere
to their disease management plan and therefore the better the patients would feel.
In order to test their prediction, Sacco and colleagues recruited a sample of
adults who had been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. Participants completed self-
report measures of how much they adhered to their diet, exercise, glucose testing,
and medication plan, a measure of depression, and a measure of self-efficacy spe-
cifically tailored to assess how much self-efficacy they felt with regard to manag-
ing their diabetes. Additionally, participants completed a measure of the frequency
and severity of their diabetes symptoms, and their body mass index (BMI) was
computed based on data from their medical records.
The results of this study clearly demonstrated just how important self-efficacy
is to the management of chronic disease. Higher levels of self-efficacy were related
to lower levels of depression, increased adherence to doctors’ orders, lower BMI,
and fewer and decreased severity of diabetes symptoms. Given these compelling