Does problem orientation involve more than generalized self-efficacy? Predicting psychological and physical functioning in college students

This study sought to determine the extent to which generalized self-efficacy and problem orientation overlap as predictors of psychological and physical functioning (e.g., life satisfaction, vulnerability to illness) in a sample of 192 college students. Results of correlational analyses indicated that generalized self-efficacy and problem orientation are related, but are not redundant with each other. Moreover, results of conducting hierarchical regression analyses indicated that although generalized self-efficacy is an important predictor of psychological and physical functioning, problem orientation, specifically, negative problem orientation added incremental validity in predicting additional unique variance in measures of functioning. Implications of the present findings are discussed.