SELF-ESTEEM AND SELF-EFFICACY AS DETERMINANTS OF THE FEAR OF NEGATIVE EVALUATION IN ADOLESCENTS

• Main Author: Nermin Mulaosmanović
• Format: Article
• Language: Bosnian
• Published: University of Tuzla, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences 2020-07-01
• Series: Društvene i Humanističke Studije
• Subjects: fear of negative evaluation; self-esteem; self-efficacy; adolescents
• Online Access: http://www.dhs.ff.untz.ba/index.php/home/article/view/418

The functioning of young people is greatly affected by the fear of negative evaluation, from social relations through school success all the way to later employment. There are concerns about the outcomes of different social situations, which often leads to the fear of negative evaluation or the fear of the possibility of being negatively evaluated by others. The appearance of the fear of negative evaluation is influenced by some of the possible factors which include: self-esteem and self-efficacy. If a person has a good opinion about themselves and their abilities, they could be more relaxed in social situations that always involve a certain exposure of their own features to others. In order for a person to function successfully, in addition to certain abilities, the person also needs the belief that those abilities will be used effectively. Expectations play an important role in the behavior formation, goals, and general human action. The aim of this paper is to examine the role of these psychological factors in the instance of the fear of negative evaluation in adolescents. The study consisted of 1172 adolescents which included young people ages 16 to 19. According to the results, self-esteem is a significant predictor of the fear of negative evaluation, while self-efficacy did not prove to be a significant predictor, but together they indicate 8.8 % of criterion variance. In the fear of negative evaluation with regard to school achievement, no significant difference was found. Gender differences were found with regard to fear of negative evaluation. With regard to adolescent age, there is a significant difference in the fear of negative evaluation. The stated results suggest that in order to reduce the degree of fear of negative evaluation that may negatively affect adolescent behavior, it is necessary to include and consider additional aspects of adolescent self-concept, in addition to self-esteem, self-efficacy.