Predicting Civic Competencies Among East African Youth and Emerging Adults: Report on the Swahili General Self-Efficacy Scale

Self-efficacy has been examined around the world, with research indicating its importance for personal and civic development. The General Self-Efficacy Scale has been translated into 33 languages; however, no African language version has been well established, and research on self-efficacy in the region is rare. A measure of self-efficacy in Swahili, a language widely used in East Africa, could spur research. We describe the development of the Swahili General Self-Efficacy Scale and its psychometric properties with a large, diverse group of Tanzanian youth and emerging adults (N = 1,409, ages 13–26). We report psychometrics including internal consistency, factor structure, convergent reliability, and the ability of the measure to predict civic competencies. Our results establish the Swahili General Self-Efficacy Scale as a credible measure with implications for personal and civic development. We suggest areas for investigation and provide the Swahili scale as an impetus for research in the region.