Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, Vol 51, Issue 4 S183-S190, Copyright © 1996 by The Gerontological Society of America

ARTICLES

Self-efficacy, physical decline, and change in functioning in community- living elders: a prospective study

CF Mendes de Leon, TE Seeman, DI Baker, ED Richardson and ME Tinetti
Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, School of Medicine, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA. MendesdeCF@MASPO2.MAS.Yale.Edu

This study examines whether high self-efficacy is protective against a decline in functional status in community-residing elderly persons. Data came from a sample of 1,103 subjects aged > or = 72 years who were ambulatory within the household and who received in-home assessments at baseline and 18 months later to obtain information on sociodemographic, psychosocial, and health status variables, including physical performance tests. Functional status was based on six basic self-care tasks (ADLs). Using OLS regression, lower self-efficacy was marginally related to decline in functional status, after controlling for sociodemographic and health-related variables. As hypothesized, there was a significant interaction effect between self-efficacy and change in physical performance, suggesting that low self-efficacy was particularly predictive of functional decline among older individuals who showed a decline in physical performance at follow-up. These findings provide support for the buffering effect of self-efficacy on functional decline in the face of diminished physical capacity.

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