CAUSAL ATTRIBUTIONS, SELF-EFFICACY COGNITIONS, AND COPING WITH STRESS

Modeled the relations among causal attributions, self-efficacy cognitions, and coping using data from a study of teacher burnout among 316 public school teachers. Tested a model in which self-efficacy mediates the relationship between attributions and coping against a model in which attributions and self-efficacy simultaneously affect coping. Although neither model represented a significantly better fit to the data, the mediational model more accurately represents the relationships among the constructs. Attributions had no direct effects on coping. Higher self-efficacy was associated with problem-focused coping efforts, and lower self-efficacy was associated with greater emotion-focused coping efforts. Emotion-focused coping was associated with higher levels of burnout, whereas problem-focused coping was not significantly associated with burnout. A number of theoretical relationships and empirical findings are confirmed by these data, and future directions in research are suggested.