Self-Efficacy and the Effects of Poverty on School Children

Bandura has studied self-efficacy, which is the extent or strength of one’s belief in one’s own ability to complete tasks and reach goals. Self-efficacy can affect all types of behaviors like academics, social and recreational. A child might have the ability to accomplish a task, but if they do not feel like they are capable of doing so, then they may fail or may not attempt the task. For example, in a study difficult math problems were given to children with

Albert Bandura introduced the Self-Efficacy Theory in the late 1970s. Self-Efficacy is the belief in one’s ability to perform actions to complete a task or goal attainment. It has been applied to many areas such as smoking cessation, eating, and pain control. It can also be applied to childhood asthma to share insight on the child’s belief. Believing in oneself and the ability to manage their own care is a very important aspect of self-care.

Self-efficacy can be described as the level self-confidence that a person has when they try to do something. It is important in making a behavioral change because people need to envision themselves succeeding.

Bandura focused on perceived self-efficacy, which he defines as a belief in one’s own capability to organize and execute the course of action required to attain a goal. (Bandura, 1977).

Their families continue to struggle with bills and looking for shelter. They are use to relying on loans and shelters to keep their family from starving and providing them with a temporary home. Parents are too busy worrying about money problems that they don’t realize that it is influencing their youngster in a substandard way. This exposes negativity and sadness to the children. Negativity results to a destructive impact on life. Children often blame their parent’s stress on themselves. Because of this, they hide their wishes and dreams. This prevents them from achieving the marvelous and success they need to thrive in adulthood. Children don’t have as much confidence in themselves as they do when they are positive. Povertized children already have heard many rumors and names at school. With the negativity at home, the children don’t even have confidence that will push them to love themselves for who they are. Bullies are another factor that affects a child’s self esteem especially if they are going through poverty. A reporter had mentioned that bullies considered these children as different. They called them dirty and filthy because they came from a poor

In this chapter, Rivera outlines and describes three existing theories: Bandura’s Theory of Self-Efficacy, Vygotsky’s Constructivist Theory, and Social Interdependence Theory. She also refers to multiple sources and explains their opinions about these theories. She goes one step further to clarify how these theories directly correlate with her research topic.

The psychological health of children around the world is detrimental to their abilities to cope, succeed and be able to function normally within social settings. According to Evans and Shamberg ( 2009), “Chronically elevated physiological stress is a plausible model for how poverty could get into the brain and eventually interfere with achievement” (p. 6545- 6549). Children residing in poverty stricken neighborhoods and families tend to experience environmental stressors as well as physical stressors such as educational setbacks, lack of resources and physical demands that are not being met. These stressors can cause a problem in the psychological health of children because of the need to continually adjust to changes and setbacks that stem from poverty.

Children living in poverty encounter behavioral and emotional problems that can become persistent throughout their lives. Their problems can be associated with interacting in school among their peers, showing aggressive behaviors, having attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and conduct disorder. They tend to express themselves emotionally with showing signs of depression. Children tend to show signs of distance from society and keeping to themselves. Depression in children can cause higher risk for behavioral problems to be intense amongst their peers at school. Children of low-income mothers appear to show to a greater risk for externalizing behaviors than those children that do not have depressed mothers (Henninger & Luze, 2012).

Three of which include, his or her cognition towards situations, his or her emotional status, and the decision-making process of that individual. Self-efficacy affects an individual’s cognition towards a situation due to the fact that a person’s view can greatly influence the outcome of that situation. Therefore, thinking in an optimistic manner can be beneficial, whereas thinking in a negative manner towards a circumstance can be detrimental. Self-efficacy can affect the emotional status of an individual, in that a resilient sense of self-efficacy enables an individual to recognize that it is normal for him or her to feel discouraged in certain situations, and this transpires in a determination to persevere and turn the outcomes of his or her circumstances into success. The manner in which self-efficacy affects an individual’s decision-making process is that it facilitates the individual to recognize that there is always a choice for choosing the way he or she will experience a certain situation or circumstance. In summation, the concept of self-efficacy pioneered by Albert Bandura elucidates that through an individual mastery of his or her thoughts emotions and decisions with the guidance of past circumstances he or she will be able to recognize the ability to shape the outcomes of his or her situations and circumstances. Therefore, the concept of self-efficacy has proven to be a paramount dynamic in the positive field of psychology regarding the prerequisite for behavior

Using the same example as above, the teacher may give an assignment and instead of being aware of the student’s progress, they may go back to their desk and the struggles go unnoticed because of a negative self-efficacy.

The concept of interest is self-efficacy. This began in 1977 with Bandura’s social learning theory that was renamed social cognitive theory in 1986, of which self-efficacy was one of the major concepts of his theory. Self-efficacy makes a difference in how people will feel, think, behave, and motivate themselves. A low sense of self-efficacy can be associated with stress, anxiety, depression, and feelings of helplessness. Such individuals also have low self-esteem and become pessimistic about their accomplishments and personal development. In thinking terms, a strong sense of efficacy facilitates cognitive processes and performance in a variety of settings, including the quality of decision-making and academic achievement. When it comes to behavior, self-efficacy can be said to influence people’s choice of activities as self-efficacy levels can foster or decrease a person’s motivation. People with high self-efficacy approach difficult tasks as challenges and do not try to avoid them. People’s self-efficacy beliefs determine their level of motivation, as reflected in how much effort they will

(Jensen, 2009, pp. 11-12). Teachers need to be aware of this connection in order to understand that the student is not simply misbehaving as a way of "acting out" and responded accordingly. It is also important to understand that the effects of poverty are not necessarily permanent, and that good teachers can work to counter poverty impairments and instead

The information acquired from these different sources is then cognitively appraised (Bandura, 1997). How students perceive their study conditions directly influences their self efficacy. For example, student perceptions of classrooms as supporting mastery evaluation and autonomy positively impact self-efficacy (Greene, Miller, Crowson, Duke, & Akey, 2004). The initial self-efficacy fluctuates as a function of ability and earlier experience, and is confirmed when students observe goal progress or are given feedback that communicates skillfulness (Elliot & Dweck, 1988). Difficult goals are believed to develop skills more effectively than easy goals, as difficult goals offer more information about ability. Models such as teacher and peer students are important sources of explicit efficacy information (vicarious experience), and observing models can be very beneficial in supporting efficacy and motivation (Bandura,

The numerous amount of children in poverty have a lower readiness for school, health, and home life. These children could have been you when you were a child. Why not change the life of those children so they don't suffer what you might have been through? In fact, this topic is important because children want to obtain a better career. To have a better career you must complete a sturdy education, and moreover, know the topic that you're learning about. In effect, children suffering in poverty with no education could impact their vocabulary and the ability to concentrate.

Most times you are initially filled with excitement when you first set goals for yourself, but then these are followed by self-doubt and self-defeating thoughts that stop you in your tracks before you even get started.