The Development and Validation Self-Efficacy Scale

Following from Bandura's (1977a) self-efficacy theory, an Eating SelfEfficacy Scale (ESES) was developed and its psychometric properties established. Factor analysis o f the 25-item scale yielded two reliable factorsone concerned with eating when experiencing negative affect (NA) and the other with eating during socially acceptable circumstances (SAC). The ESES demonstrated good internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and convergent validity. A clinical study using this measure found that increases in ESES scores were significantly related to weight losses among weight loss program participants. A laboratory study using a mood induction procedure found that NA subscale scores predicted food consumption irrespective o f whether negative affect was induced. This finding may indicate that people have difficulty accurately discriminating the specific circumstances under which their eating difficulties occur and/or that eating difficulties tend to be global in nature. The significant correlation o f the two ESES subscales (r = .39, p < . 001) supports these possibilities. The clinical and research utility o f the ESES and the implications o f the findings are discussed.