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This investigation, part of an on-going research program examining social learning theory applications to career development, tested several hypotheses derived from A. Bandura's self-efficacy theory in the career-related domain of mathematics. Specifically, the effects of failure on a mathematics task and on a task irrelevant to mathematics were explored. Findings indicate that, congruent with theoretical expectations, measures of mathematics self-efficacy (MSE) expectations of females were not influenced by verbal-task failure; however, contrary to predictions, MSE expectations of males rose significantly higher as a result of verbal-task failure. For the mathematics-task failure condition, again counter to expectations, females' MSE rose while males' MSE was not significantly affected. No task-failure effect was found on a global rating of subjects' mathematics ability. Findings for a global verbal ability rating were partly consistent with predictions; all subjects responded to verbal-task failure with a decrease in verbal ability ratings. Unexpectedly, subjects in the mathematics-failure condition significantly increased their ratings of their verbal ability on posttest, indicating that the effects of failure had a facilitating, rather than a debilitating influence on self-efficacy with respect to a task irrelevant domain. Implications of these results for future career-related self-efficacy research are discussed. (Author/JN)

1Boy Crusoe

By Allan Eric

Also published as" A Yankee Crusoe" . A 15 year old hard working and studious farm boy finds the lure of adventure on the seas as a merchant seaman more than he can resist. This is his story. " I was born in a little town in the State of Maine, near the close of the Civil War. My boyhood life did not differ materially from that of the average farmer's son in the remote country districts of New England--except, perhaps, that I read more and thought more. Hard work on the rugged soil, two terms each year in the little yellow country schoolhouse, a day's fishing now and then filled the early years of my life full to over-flowing. " What he gets is enough excitement and adventure to overflow his wildest dreams. How he experiences disaster and uses his wits and knowledge to overcome every problem makes for a great read. - Summary by Phil Chenevert