Stress and Personal Competence

This work argues that personal competence (PC) influences stress and anxiety reactions and hypothesizes that persons with high PC will show: 1) higher self-efficacy, 2) higher frequence of efficient and active coping strategies, 3) lower levels of perceived stress, and 4) higher positive mood states and lower physiological reactivity in front of stress situations. A review of eleven studies that assessed PC allows to the following conclusions: a) individuals with high PC show higher self-efficacy expectancies than individuals with low PC in front of new and ambiguous situations, but in front of situations which are well known by the subjects, this difference is not found, b) individuals with low PC are more reluctant to change their behaviors addressed to solve a problematic situation, c) individuals with high PC show lower levels of perceived stress in front of situations which can be controlled by the subject, and d) individuals with high PC have more positive mood states and low stress reactivity.