Social self-efficacy, outcome expectations, and goal progress among American college students: Testing temporal relations by gender and race/ethnicity

ABSTRACT The transition to college represents an exciting time for adolescents and young adults, but it could also pose a challenge as they adapt to a new environment. According to social cognitive career theory, self-efficacy, outcome expectations and goal progress are key predictors of positive adjustment. While these variables have received considerable empirical attention, they are understudied using longitudinal designs and in the social domain. To fill this gap, the present study adopted the RI-CLPM to examine temporal relations as within-person processes between social self-efficacy, outcome expectations, and goal progress among first-year college students (N = 831) who completed measures of study variables at three time points with a lag of four to five weeks. As hypothesized, results derived from the entire sample identified social self-efficacy as a temporal precursor of social outcome expectations and goal progress. A similar temporal pattern emerged for European American students and students of color. However, while a bidirectional model offered the best fit for male students, no cross-lagged paths were significant for their female counterparts. These findings highlight the importance of self-efficacy and outcome expectations and provide implications for promoting positive social adjustment among college students who have different gender and racial/ethnic backgrounds.