Self-efficacy as a predictor for a reaction to trauma

Abstract

The article is an attempt to analyse self-efficacy as a factor positively influencing a reaction to a traumatic event. There are three possible states which occur in response to trauma: lack of adaptation, adaptation, and a post-traumatic development. Coming from the assumptions of the functional perspective of psychological defense mechanisms, the feeling of selfefficacy is seen as enabling a task-oriented approach to trauma and perceiving it not only as a danger but also as a challenge. It allows to see a bigger perspective which helps not to fixate only on the traumatic event. The article describes several directions of shaping the self-efficacy in children’s education and proposes a few practical methods of shaping the self-efficacy among children.