PERSONALITY AND SELF-EFFICACY AS PREDICTORS OF COPING WITH ABORTION

The present study explored the relationships among dispositional optimism, self-esteem, chronic perceptions of control, depression, and self-efficacy in predicting psychological adjustment among women undergoing an abortion. Self-efficacy was found to be a strong, proximal predictor of adjustment, both immediately after the abortion and 3 weeks later Optimism, perceptions of personal control, and high self-esteem were all related to better postabortion adjustment (mainly through the mediator of increased self-efficacy for coping). In addition, the effects of these three personality variables were found to overlap considerably. Finally, preabortion depression had both direct and indirect (through self-efficacy) effects on adjustment. These effects did not overlap completely with the effects attributable to personality.