Self-Efficacy – Prothrow

Abstract

The Self-Efficacy- Prothrow scale is a brief, seven-item instrument designed to assess the confidence of adolescents in achieving long-term educational and career success, alongside their ability to effectively manage conflict and avoid violent encounters. Developed in the context of violence prevention research, this tool quantifies an individual’s self-perception of competence across both academic/vocational domains and social conflict resolution skills. Respondents use a 4-point Likert scale to indicate their level of agreement with the statements.

The scale items measure confidence in attaining educational and career goals (Items 1-3) and confidence in avoiding fights and resolving conflict non-violently (Items 4-7). A higher total score indicates greater perceived self-efficacy in achieving positive future outcomes and maintaining non-aggressive behavior.

Keywords

Self-Efficacy, Violence prevention, Adolescent assessment, Conflict resolution, Career goals, Educational achievement, Social competence, Personal Attitudes and Beliefs.

Authors

DeJong, W., Spiro, A., Brewer-Wilson, R., Vince-Whitman, C., Prothrow-Stith, D., Cross, T.P.

Purpose

The primary purpose of the Self-Efficacy- Prothrow scale is to evaluate the effectiveness of violence prevention curricula among youth, specifically by measuring changes in perceived competence following intervention. The scale provides researchers and practitioners with a quantitative measure of youths’ confidence in their ability to achieve positive life outcomes (education and employment) and to successfully navigate high-risk social situations without resorting to aggression or violence.

This instrument serves as an important diagnostic and evaluative tool, allowing stakeholders to identify adolescents who may require additional support in developing strong self-efficacy beliefs related to future success and non-violent conflict management. The composite score reflects a holistic measure of future orientation and behavioral control, highly relevant in assessing the impact of social skills training and violence reduction programs.

Construct

The scale measures self-efficacy, defined by Albert Bandura as an individual’s belief in their capacity to execute behaviors necessary to produce specific performance attainments. The Self-Efficacy- Prothrow scale operationalizes this construct across two distinct, but related, domains relevant to adolescent development and risk reduction.

• Educational and Vocational Efficacy: This domain, represented by the first three items, assesses the respondent’s confidence in their ability to meet significant long-term academic milestones (e.g., graduating high school and college) and secure desired employment.
• Conflict Avoidance Efficacy: This domain, represented by Items 4 through 7, assesses confidence in social competence, including the ability to control aggressive impulses, utilize non-violent strategies for dealing with anger, and maintain positive interpersonal relationships, even when provoked. Items 4-7 can be analyzed as a separate subscale focusing purely on non-violent behavior.

Validity

Specific psychometric validity analyses (e.g., criterion-related validity or construct validation studies beyond the initial unpublished evaluation) are not detailed in the available source materials. However, the scale exhibits strong face validity, as the items directly address core components of successful adolescent development, including educational persistence, future career orientation, and control over aggressive impulses, which are central outcomes of violence prevention programs.

The instrument was developed within the context of a rigorous evaluation of a violence prevention curriculum, suggesting that its content aligns closely with the theoretical targets of such interventions, thus demonstrating robust content validity for its intended purpose of measuring confidence gains following intervention.

Reliability

Information regarding internal consistency (e.g., Cronbach’s Alpha) or test-retest reliability for the Self-Efficacy- Prothrow scale is not explicitly provided in the source documentation. Given that the scale combines two conceptually distinct efficacy domains (educational/vocational goals and conflict avoidance), researchers should consider evaluating the reliability of the total score and the reliability of the subscale (Items 4-7) separately.

Factor Analysis

While a formal, published factor analysis is not explicitly cited, the design of the scale suggests a two-factor structure. The initial items measure confidence related to future achievement (educational and career goals), while the subsequent items focus on behavioral control and conflict resolution skills.

The source documentation explicitly notes that Items 4 through 7 can be treated as a separate scale, which strongly implies a conceptual or empirical distinction between the two clusters of items. This suggests researchers may benefit from running independent analyses on the Conflict Avoidance Efficacy subscale (Items 4–7) to ensure targeted measurement of violence prevention outcomes.

Instrument

Test Type: Self-report questionnaire.

Format: Seven items utilizing a 4-point Likert-type response scale.

Language Available: English (as presented in the source material).

Population Group: Youth (Adolescents).

Age Group: Middle school and high school age youth (typically 12–18 years).

Population Details: Has been specifically used in previous research evaluating violence prevention curricula among African American males aged 12–16 residing in inner-city environments.

Test Methodology: Respondents indicate the extent to which they agree or disagree with the seven statements. The response options are: Strongly disagree (1), Disagree (2), Agree (3), or Strongly agree (4). Scores are assigned point values (1–4), summed for each respondent, and then divided by the number of items to yield a mean score ranging from 1 to 4. A higher score indicates greater confidence in one’s ability to finish school, secure employment, and avoid violent encounters.

Keywords

Adolescent psychology, Self-efficacy, Conflict avoidance, Violence risk, Inner-city youth, Vocational goals, Likert scale.

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not provided in source content.

Affiliation Email addresses: Not provided in source content.

Correspondence Address: Correspondence related to the original unpublished evaluation was affiliated with Harvard University, Boston, MA (1992).

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

Fees and Requirements: No fees were noted in the source documentation for the use of this instrument.

Test Year: 1992 (Associated with the evaluation study by DeJong, Spiro, Brewer-Wilson, et al.).

Availability: The instrument is available on page 131 of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) publication, Measuring Violence-Related Attitudes, Behaviors, and Influences Among Youths: A Compendium of Assessment Tools. The original PDF can be downloaded here: http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/YV_Compendium.pdf.

Reference’s

1. DeJong, W., Spiro, A., Brewer-Wilson, R., Vince-Whitman, C., Prothrow-Stith, D., & Cross, T.P. (1992). Evaluation of a violence prevention curriculum for inner-city adolescents. Boston, MA: Harvard University. (Unpublished).

Items of the Self-Efficacy- Prothrow

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

• 1. I will graduate from high school.
• 2. I will finish college.
• 3. I will get a job I really want.
• 4. I am confident in my ability to stay out of fights.
• 5. If someone called me a bad name, I would ignore them or walk away.
• 6. I don’t need to fight because there are other ways to deal with anger.
• 7. I can get along well with most people. (Item 7 was added by DeJong, Spiro, Brewer-Wilson, et al., 1992.)