Factorial Validity of the Perceived Empathic and Social Self-Efficacy Scale for Adults with Serious Mental Illness: A Brief Report

Assessment of the Psychometric Properties of the Perceived Empathic and Social Self-Efficacy Scale in Chinese Adolescents

Purpose

There is a burgeoning interest in nurturing adolescents' social and emotional skills, acknowledging the significant influence these abilities have on adolescents' social development and overall well-being. The Perceived Empathic and Social Self-Efficacy Scale (PESSE) emerges as a promising tool designed to capture adolescents' self-perceptions regarding their self-efficacy in empathic and social domains. This study seeks to investigate the psychometric properties of the Chinese Version of the Perceived Empathic and Social Self-Efficacy Scale (PESSE) by examining its factor structure, measurement invariance across gender and age groups, along with its predictive validity concerning adolescent subjective and social well-being.

Participants and Methods

A sample of 512 adolescents (233 boys, 265 girls) aged 10-16 years old (M = 12.69, SD = 1.49) from mainland China participated in this study. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and multi-group CFA were employed to assess the two-factor structure and the measurement invariance of the PESSE across gender and age groups.

Results

The results demonstrate that the Chinese PESSE maintains robust psychometric properties as the original version, establishing its reliability (Cronbach's alpha for empathic self-efficacy scale was 0.82, for social self-efficacy scale was 0.85) and validity for assessing adolescents perceived empathic and social self-efficacy. Additionally, findings consistently highlight positive correlations between perceived empathic and social self-efficacy and indicators for adolescents' subjective well-being (self-esteem, positive and negative affect, and symptoms of depression and anxiety) and social well-being (perceived peer support online prosocial behavior, school connectedness, and social relationship).

Conclusion

This study supports that the PESSE is a valid and reliable instrument for assessing adolescent perceived empathic and social self-efficacy, underlining the importance of fostering empathic and social self-efficacy skills in adolescence.

Psychiatric Symptoms, Psychosocial Factors, and Life Satisfaction Among Persons With Serious Mental Illness: A Path Analysis

This study explores the effects of biopsychosocial factors on life satisfaction among persons with serious mental illness. Participants in this study included a convenience sample of 194 adults recruited from Texas and Wisconsin. A path analysis was conducted with psychiatric symptoms as an exogenous variable, and illness insight, social self-efficacy, social support, community integration, and life satisfaction as endogenous variables. Beginning with a hypothesized model, a best model was obtained after removing the paths that were not significant and adding recommended paths supported by theory. In the final model, psychiatric symptoms, social self-efficacy, social support, and community integration were directly associated with life satisfaction. Illness insight did not directly affect life satisfaction but had indirect effects. Psychiatric symptoms may be the most important and direct predictor of life satisfaction; illness insight, social self-efficacy, social support, and community integration buffer the direct of effect of psychiatric symptoms on life satisfaction.

Personal and environmental contextual factors as mediators between functional disability and quality of life in adults with serious mental illness: a cross-sectional analysis

PURPOSE

To examine personal and environmental contextual factors as mediators of functional disability on quality of life (QOL) in a sample of individuals with serious mental illness (SMI).

METHODS

A cross-sectional analysis of 194 individuals with SMI (major depressive disorder = 38.1%; bipolar disorder = 35.6%; schizophrenia spectrum disorder = 25.8%) recruited from four psychosocial rehabilitation clubhouses was undertaken to test a multiple regression model assuming that personal (i.e., resilience, social competence, and disability acceptance) contextual factors and environmental (i.e., family support, support from friends, and support from significant others) contextual factors would mediate the relationship of functional disability on QOL. The bootstrap test for multiple mediators was then used to test for the significance of the indirect effects functional disability on QOL through the mediators.

RESULTS

In the simple regression model, functional disability had a strong relationship with QOL; however, after introducing the potential mediators, its effect was significantly reduced indicating partial mediation effects. The final regression model yielded a large effect, accounting for 44% of the variance in QOL. Controlling for all other potential mediating factors, social competence, disability acceptance, family support, and support from friends were found to partially mediate the relationship between functional disability and QOL. Bias-corrected bootstrap procedure results further supported the mediation model.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings from the study provide good support for the inclusion of person-environment contextual factors in conceptualizing the relationship between functional disability and QOL for individuals with SMI.