Evolution and impact of self-efficacy during French COVID-19 confinement: a longitudinal study

Abstract

Based on social cognitive theory, we propose that self-efficacy is a personal resource that protects people from the impact of confinement in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. In a longitudinal study where 197 French citizens were surveyed over 8 weeks of confinement (though only 25 participants responded each of these 8 weeks), we examined the relationships between general self-efficacy and positive affect, negative affect and adaptive performance at work. Consistent with theoretical expectations, self-efficacy was relatively stable during confinement and was positively related to positive affect and negatively related to negative affect. Self-efficacy was also positively correlated with all dimensions of adaptive performance at work during confinement. The role of self-efficacy as a protective factor against depressive risks induced by the stressful COVID-19 pandemic is discussed.

Keywords:

• Adaptive performance
• confinement
• negative affect
• positive affect
• self-efficacy

Compliance with ethical standards

This study was conducted with respect to ethical standards in France, as specified by the CNRS (National Scientific Research Center) guidelines as well as French laws governing non-invasive human research studies. Informed consent was obtained from all individual adult participants included in the study. The authors have no funding to disclose.

Acknowledgement

The authors thank Oriane Chene, Laure Delage, and Pierre-Louis Weiss for their support and help in the data collection and analysis.

Disclosure statement

The COVID-19 pandemic and its subsequent containment are unprecedented global stressors. Stressful life events appear to jeopardize well-being and psychological health. Psychological research focuses on the resources that enhance coping with stress. Self-efficacy, the feeling of being generally competent, is one of the key resources for managing stressful events and reducing the associated risks. This research focuses on the evolution and impact of self-efficacy during confinement by following a cohort of participants during the 8-week lockdown period in France. Our research shows that self-efficacy remains stable during confinement, and that it has a positive impact at emotional and professional levels. The level of self-efficacy is also positively correlated with the participants' adaptive performance at work during the confinement period. Self-efficacy appears therefore to be a valuable protective factor against the negative risks of COVID-19 confinement, such as depression. This highlights the importance of high-level general self-efficacy. The authors declared no conflicts of interest with respect to the authorship or the publication of this article.

Notes

1 In France, biomedical research with measures, such as blood or saliva, drug treatment, evoked potential, and other specific biological measures and all research using at-risk populations (such as pregnant women and patients with illness) require ethics committee approval. Based on the national research center’s recommendations, studies involving questionnaires with healthy populations are not subject to specific ethics committee procedures.

2 From 4th to 8th week of confinement, only 9 out of 10 positive affect measures were assessed due to technical issues. Our data replacement procedure fixed this problem.