Self-efficacy: familial and cultural perspectives.

This study examined associations between self-efficacy and various dimensions of family patterns – differentiation of self, satisfaction with differentiation of self, and intergenerational triangulation – among a sample of 393 college students from Israel. The sample comprised 140 males and 253 females, and 264 Jews and 129 Arabs. Self-efficacy was positively correlated with differentiation of self and negatively correlated with intergenerational triangulation. Arab students reported lower levels of self-efficacy and higher levels of emotional cutoff and intergenerational triangulation than Jewish participants. The results shed light on two important concepts in Bowen's family system theory – differentiation of self and intergenerational triangulation – and lend empirical support to the relation between them on the one hand, and personal well-being on the other hand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]