Fostering self-efficacy in girls and equipping them with the mindset to believe in their ability builds a future where girls are resilient and confident leaders. At Girls Empowerment Network, we believe all girls are powerful and we want them to know it, too. We developed a curriculum centered on our Six Cs (collaboration, communication, confidence, coping skills, creativity, and critical thinking) that develop skills to foster self-efficacy, which has the potential to positively affect mental health, standard and quality of life, education, and achievement. When girls believe in their power, and are surrounded by a supportive environment, they can set and achieve ambitious goals. A cultural focus on supporting girls now will allow society to avoid the continued disproportionately high poverty rates experienced by women in the future. Furthermore, because women are much more likely to be responsible for child rearing than their male counterparts, investing in girls’ self-efficacy now will also better ensure that tomorrow’s children are not growing up in poverty. As a society we must intervene on behalf of girls with the greatest expediency to stop the perpetuation of intergenerational poverty. Increasing girls’ self-efficacy is one of the strongest tools we have available to do this.
Girls who believe in themselves and their abilities have higher rates of academic achievement and go on to pursue the future of their dreams. Girls deserve to participate in traditionally male-dominated careers and industries such as science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). Self-efficacy is a prerequisite for girls to take risks and pursue careers in STEM and other fields. For example, in order for a girl to enroll in AP (advanced placement) Physics or participate in their school’s robotics club, they must feel they are capable. In fact, self-efficacy is the strongest predictor of college GPA, more than high school GPA or demographic factors (Richardson et al. 2012), and a stronger predictor of preferred career than academic achievement (Bandura 2001).
Additionally, self-efficacy creates resiliency because individuals who believe they can overcome challenges and know they have resources, support, and connections they can rely on will better weather temporary setbacks to create more stability in their lives. Studies show that self-efficacy is more important than perseverance (“grit”) to predicting school achievement (Usher et al. 2019). Further, "efficacy beliefs help determine how much effort people will expend on activity, how long they will persevere when confronting obstacles, and how resilient they will prove to be in the face of adverse situations - the higher the sense of efficacy, the greater the effort, persistence and resilience" (Pajares 1996, p. 544). In other words, self-efficacy serves as the foundation upon which most future successes are built.
We know that adolescent girls experience a higher rate of risk factors, including eating disorders, self-harm behaviors, and developing PTSD (posttraumatic stress disorder) than boys their age. Girls are also more than twice as likely than boys to be diagnosed with a mood disorder, such as depression and anxiety, in their teen years (Steingard 2020). A study of emergency room visits for self-injurious behaviors found that, among girls 10-14 years old, rates of emergency room visits for treatment of self-harm surged nearly 19% yearly between 2009 and 2015 (Mercado et al. 2017). Depression and self-harm are critical risk factors for suicide, the second leading cause of death in the country among individuals between the ages of 10 and 19 (NIMH Suicide in America 2020). One in five high school girls in Texas has seriously considered attempting suicide – nearly as many made a plan about how they would attempt it (CDC YRBS 2019). Girls with low self-image are three times more likely to engage in harmful and destructive behavior that can leave a lasting imprint on their lives (Dove Self Esteem Project 2017). Self-efficacy is a strong protective factor for girls and can increase positive mental health outcomes. Additionally, self-efficacy is a protective factor against developing symptoms of PTSD. An exciting new meta-analysis research study found that self-efficacy was a factor in lowering PTSD risk, as well as building resiliency when faced with trauma (Gallagher, Long, and Phillips, 2020). When a girl experiences high self-efficacy, they believe they can handle whatever barriers or challenges they encounter.
At Girls Empowerment Network, our curriculum, “Six Cs to Self-Efficacy,” is the foundation of all our programs, and has been developed, refined, and built upon since our founding in 1996. Each module of the curriculum is intentionally designed to increase girls’ skill sets and self-efficacy. Each of these skills is taught in fun and engaging ways that promote self-awareness and healthy interpersonal relationships. In interpersonal relationships, both personal and professional, girls who experience high self-efficacy are more likely to set boundaries, ask for what they need, and say “no” to something they do not want to do. High self-efficacy translates to a girl believing in their ability to regulate emotions, solve problems, and communicate confidently.
Self-efficacy, as fostered through Girls Empowerment Network, is crucial for girls to thrive in their lives. A girl’s ability to succeed in academics, as well as their eventual chosen career and lifelong earning potential, are fundamentally impacted by the girl’s belief in their abilities. Girls’ social and emotional health is greatly improved with increased self-efficacy and even serves as a protective factor against trauma. Building self-efficacious girls, and equipping them with the skills to thrive, leads to a future filled with confident and resilient leaders.