Self-Efficacy and Psychological Well-Being in Young Adults The Moderating Effect of Dispositional Optimism

Psychological well-being (PWB) is one’s level of psychological happiness/health which involves life satisfaction, and feelings of accomplishment. Self-efficacy, our belief about our own capabilities, plays a critical role in PWB. Further, dispositional optimism, a general and stable tendency to expect positive outcomes in life, is also found to be an essential factor for PWB. The aim of the current investigation is to study the moderating effect of dispositional optimism on the relationship between self-efficacy and psychological well-being (PWB). This investigation is a correlational study. The sample comprised 148 participants (63 male and 85 female), with the Mean age of 24.23 (SD = 4.23). The data was collected through an online survey using Google forms. The following tools were used: General Self-Efficacy Scale, Psychological Well-Being Scale, Revised Life Orientation Test (LOT-R). The obtained data was analysed for moderation analysis using PROCESS macro. The conditional effect of self-efficacy on psychological well-being (b = 1.30, SE = 0.37, t = 3.49, p < 0.01) and of dispositional optimism (b = 1.72, SE = 0.77, t = 2.24, p < 0.05) has been found to be significant. However, the interaction term was not significant (b = -0.04, SE = 0.02, t = -1.92, p = 0.06). The total model explained 32% of the variance of psychological well-being. This study is a preliminary attempt to explore the role of dispositional optimism in the relationship between self-efficacy and psychological well-being. Further explorations in this direction can be helpful in identifying other factors and co-variates (like age, gender etc.) along with the dispositional optimism that moderate the link between self-efficacy and psychological well-being