Measuring Self-Efficacy and Outcome Expectations for Resisting Social Pressures to Smoke

ABTRACT

The purpose of this study was to develop a valid and reliable instrument to measure the Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) constructs of smoking refusal skill-efficacy, positive smoking refusal outcome expectations and importance, and negative smoking refusal outcome expectations and importance. This article details the rigorous instrument development procedure in which the instrument (1) reflects the learning objectives of a psychosocial smoking prevention program, (2) reflects the SCT which the program was based on, and (3) had adequate sensitivity to capture variation in student responses. A two-stage panel review established face validity. Instrument stability using test-retest methods (Pearson r: P < 0.002) and internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha: 0.74–0.97) was established. Construct validity was tested with confirmatory factor analysis, 57 of the 62 instrument items loaded as hypothesized.

KEYWORDS:

• Tobacco
• prevention
• Social Cognitive Theory
• measurement
• psychometrics
• self-efficacy