This Is AuburnElectronic Theses and Dissertations

Self-Efficacy as it Relates to Attributions and Attitudes towards Poverty among Pre-Service School Counselors

Date

2014-07-11

Author

Kitchens, Sarah

Type of Degree

dissertation

Department

Education

Abstract

This study was conducted in order to examine the self-efficacy of pre-service school counselors and their attributions and attitudes towards poverty. The population for this study consisted of Master’s level school counseling students from two southeastern schools. All data were obtained via self-report measures and were collected using an internet survey and paper surveys. Instruments used in the survey included a demographics questionnaire developed by the researcher, the School Counselor Self-Efficiacy Scale (Bodenhorn & Skaggs, 2005), Attitudes About Poverty Scale (Yun & Weaver, 2010), and the Attributions of Poverty Scale (Bullock, Williams, & Limbert, 2011). The study utilized a multiple regression analysis in an attempt to explore the relationships between attitudes and self-efficacy and attributions and self-efficacy. The results of the study show that the pre-service school counselors who participated in this study held similar attitudes and attributions towards the general American population, which are primarily negative. This study also found no significant relationship between self-efficacy and attitudes or attributions.