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The term agency has been defined as a sense of responsibility for one’s life course, the belief that one is in control of one’s decisions and is responsible for their outcomes, and the confidence that one will be able to overcome obstacles that impede one’s progress along one’s chosen life course. Agency is an upper psychological structure which consists of self-esteem, purpose in life, self-efficacy (ego strength), and internal locus of control. Literature offers quite different explanations for agency concept. The reason of this situation may be the attribution of different meanings to the concept by psychologists and sociologists. When considering the agency literature in Turkey and other countries, it can be said that the number of studies on agency subject is lower than the number of studies on other psychosocial study subjects. Agency should be taken into consideration as a psychosocial variable in the studies to be made in Turkey.

Drawing upon a sample of 1153 young people in Shanghai, China, this study investigates how agentic personality mediates between social capital embedded in a range of social contexts (family, friendship, association, and linking connection) and developmental outcomes during the transition to adulthood. The results of a structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis provide a good fit for the sample as a whole. The overall findings support the hypotheses that a higher level of agentic personality, including resilience, self-efficacy, and self-esteem, is associated with higher levels of developmental outcomes. Agentic personality also mediates the effects of family, friendship, associational, and linking social capital on developmental outcomes. Family social capital is predictive of university students' identity achievement and academic achievement, but not of their mental health. Linking social capital is only predictive of identity achievement. Unexpectedly, friendship social capital and associational social capital are predictive of a lower level of academic achievement and mental health, respectively, despite their positive influences on all three developmental outcomes through their significant effects on agentic personality. The study provides empirical support for the importance of social capital in promoting young people's transition to adulthood. Implications for theory, practice, and policy are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The term agency has been defined as a sense of responsibility for one's life course, the belief that one is in control of one's decisions about life and is responsible for their outcomes and the confidence that one will be able to overcome obstacles that impede one’s progress along one’s chosen life course. The "Multi- Measure Agentic Personality Scale (MAPS)"was designed to measure agentic personality. The present study aimed to assess the applicability of the MAPS for Turkish youngsters. Methods: Data from a total of 410 participants (male n=188, 45.8%; female n=222, 54.2%) were utilized for validity and reliability analyses. Of the participants, 196 (47.8%) were university students and the rest were not (n=214; 52.2%). The mean age of the participants was 22.5 (SD=1.9) ranging from 19 to 25. Results: Exploratory factor analysis yielded four-factor model explaining 57.43% of the variance. Confirmatory factor analyses (χ2/sd=3.11, GFI=0.94, RMSEA=0.05) and second-order factor analyses (χ2/sd=3.87, GFI=0.99, RMSEA=0.03) indicated that a four factor solution met the criteria standards for adequacy of fit. The internal consistency and test-retest stability revealed a moderate to high reliabilities. After analyzing the data, 5 items were dropped from the original scale. Discussion and Conclusion: The analyses demonstrated that the Turkish version of MAPS could be used in studies that evaluates agency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The term agency has been defined as a sense of responsibility for one's life course, the belief that one is in control of one's decisions and is responsible for their outcomes, and the confidence that one will be able to overcome obstacles that impede one's progress along one's chosen life course. Agency is an upper psychological structure which consists of self-esteem, purpose in life, self-efficacy (ego strength), and internal locus of control. Literature offers quite different explanations for agency concept. The reason of this situation may be the attribution of different meanings to the concept by psychologists and sociologists. When considering the agency literature in Turkey and other countries, it can be said that the number of studies on agency subject is lower than the number of studies on other psychosocial study subjects. Agency should be taken into consideration as a psychosocial variable in the studies to be made in Turkey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The present study was conducted to ascertain the extent to which three alternative perspectives on identity development (self-construction, eudaimonistic self-discovery, and agentic personality) relate to various indices of identity consolidation drawn from Erikson, identity status, and identity capital. A total of 183 participants (21% males; 78% ethnic minorities) completed measures drawn from Eriksonian, identity status, self-construction, eudaimonistic self-discovery, and identity capital perspectives. Self-construction, eudaimonistic self-discovery, and agentic personality (as operationalized within the identity capital model) each showed differential patterns of relationships to measures of identity consolidation, suggesting that all three strategies can be used to develop a sense of identity. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]