Study of the Psychometric Properties of the Social Self-Efficacy Scale with Spanish Adolescents by Gender, Age and Family Socioeconomic Level

Healthcare (Basel). 2022 Jun 20;10(6):1150. doi: 10.3390/healthcare10061150.

Abstract

Social self-efficacy has been shown to be a key resource for adolescents' social experiences with peers and a predictor of prosocial behaviour among adolescents. However, differences by gender, age and socioeconomic level have previously been found in social self-efficacy. The objective of this study is to assess the psychometric properties of the subscale of social self-efficacy from the Self-Efficacy Questionnaire for Children (SEQ-C) developed by Muris (2001) in a representative sample of Spanish adolescents while considering gender, age and socioeconomic level differences. In general, the results showed good psychometric properties and a one-dimensional structure with high internal consistency, adequate explained variance and evidence of external validity for the subscale. Furthermore, the invariance analysis demonstrated that the social self-efficacy subscale shows no bias when used with populations of adolescents who differ by gender, age and socioeconomic level. The results indicate that the Spanish version of the social self-efficacy subscale of the SEQ-C is an adequate measurement instrument for assessing adolescents' perception of their own social skills.

Keywords: Spanish; adolescents; invariance measurement; psychometrics; social self-efficacy.

Grants and funding

The Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación, y Universidades) supported this study through a University Professor Training Program grant (Programa de Formación de Profesorado Universitario) (ref. FPU19/00023) obtained by Vanesa Salado Navarro to develop her doctoral thesis at the University of Seville.