Perceived Self-Efficacy in Problem Solving and Scientific Communication in University Students. A Gender Study

The purpose of the present study was to compare the profiles of perceived self-efficacy in problem solving and scientific communication between men and women university students. A total sample of 2089 participants, 902 women and 1187 men, aged 17 20 years participated in this study. The sample was constituted by all the freshmen university students from each degree offered by the Autonomous University of Chihuahua (Mexico). A quantitative approach with a descriptive and transversal survey design was used. All the participants completed the Self-Efficacy Problem Solving and Communication Scale. The results of the one-way multivariate analysis of variance, followed by the one-way univariate analyses of variance, showed that the men reported statistically significant better perceived self-efficacy in problem solving than the women (p < .05), but they had lower scores in the possibility for improving self-efficacy perceived than the women (p < .05). Regarding the scientific communication, the females reported statistically significant greater desired and reachable self-efficacy than the men (p < .05). However, for all the other variables statistically significant differences were not found (p > .05). Because of the differences between men and women in their perception of self-efficacy found, these findings suggest that in order to design any intervention for improving the perceived self-efficacy of the students, the variable gender should be taken into account.