PERSONAL NEED FOR STRUCTURE, ANXIETY, SELFEFFICACY AND OPTIMISM

The aim of the study is to contribute to the explanation of mutual relations between personal need for structure, anxiety, optimism and self-efficacy. The research sample comprised 237 university students (men n = 48 and women n = 189). The following instruments were administered: Personal Need for Structure (PNS), Spielberger’s Trait Personality Inventory (STPI), Generalized Self-Efficacy Scale (GSES) and Life Orientation Test - Revised (LOT-R). Significant differences between men and women in their PNS score and its sub-factors – desire for structure and response to the lack of structure – were found. Women showed stronger need for structure and its sub-factors. Personal need for structure and the response to the lack of structure in women was positively correlated with anxiety. The sub-factor desire for structure did not show any relations with the studied characteristics. The results showed a negative relation of personal need for structure with optimism in women and no differences were found in the need for structure and its sub-factors in relation to the degree of self-efficacy.