The effects of implicit theories of intelligence on general self-efficacy in university students:The mediating role of self-evaluative and conscientious perfectionism components

The aim of this study was to test a conceptual model for the mediating role of perfectionism in the effects ofimplicit theories of intelligence on general self-efficacy in university students. A sample of three hundred and eighty-two (20.40 ± 1.84 years, range: 18-23) girl students was selected randomly through multi-stage cluster sampling from University of Mazandaran, and filled the Implicit Theories of Intelligence Scale (ITIS; Abd-El-Fattah & Yates, 2006), the Perfectionism Inventory (PI; Hill, et al., 2004), and the General Self-Efficacy Scale (Sherer, et al., 1982). Using Maximum-Likelihood estimation and bootstrapping procedure, the results from structural equation modeling showed that the direct effects of incrementalimplicitbelieves on organization, planfulness, and striving for excellence, and entity implicit believes on concern over mistakes and need for approval were positive and statistically significant.Also, organization, planfulness, and striving for excellence (components of conscientious perfectionism) mediated the effect of incremental implicit believes on general self-efficacy components. Concern over mistakes and need for approval (components of self-evaluative perfectionism) mediated the effect of entity implicit believes on general self-efficacy components (p< 0.05).