4. Self-Efficacy: Self Efficacy is the belief you have the power or ability to do, accomplish, or overcome something. It is very different from self-esteem; (please see: Self-Efficacy (Is Self-Esteem Overrated?) http://responsiblepracticalparenting.blogspot.com/2010/08/self-efficacy-is-self-esteem-overrated.html)
however, usually leads to better self esteem. Help your children develop skills and talents appropriate to their interests and abilities. There are many amazing resources to help children build self-efficacy: sports programs, 4=H, crafts, scouting, young women’s achievement, books, etc. Help your children set and achieve goals. Remember the four key elements of: a. writing the goal, b. writing the reasonable and achievable steps, c. reporting on progress, and d. celebrating success.
It is the same for adults. It is never too late to begin building self-efficacy through similar skill and talent building activities to include hobbies, work, and service for others. If you are unemployed and have the time, volunteer.
To add more power behind the stress reduction available through self-efficacy, be sure there is a measure of WHY. While I’m not a great fan of Nietzsche, there are a few quotations from him which I like and with which I agree. One is: “He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.” http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/f/friedrich_nietzsche_3.html
To learn more about self-efficacy see:
Self-Efficacy: Bandura: http://des.emory.edu/mfp/BanEncy.html
There is significant research on the relationship between self-efficacy and stress, so much that if you want to learn even more, simply go to the google scholar search engine at: http://scholar.google.com/, type in the words “self-efficacy stress) and find almost more than you could hope to read.
Additional reading:
The case for positive emotions in the stress process
“Evidence has accumulated regarding the co-occurrence of positive and negative emotions during stressful periods; the restorative function of positive emotions with respect to physiological, psychological, and social coping resources; and the kinds of coping processes that generate positive emotions including benefit finding and reminding, adaptive goal processes, reordering priorities, and infusing ordinary events with positive meaning. Overall, the evidence supports the propositions set forth in the revised model. Contrary to earlier tendencies to dismiss positive emotions, the evidence indicates they have important functions in the stress process and are related to coping processes that are distinct from those that regulate distress. Including positive emotions in future studies will help address an imbalance between research and clinical practice due to decades of nearly exclusive concern with the negative emotions.”
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10615800701740457
Family Resiliency
http://www.extension.iastate.edu/publications/edc53.pdf
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