Abstract
The operation of self-efficacy beliefs was investigated in a group of 81 participants between 73 and 97 years of age with intensive time samples including activities carried out at the moment a signal was received, their subjective difficulty, and concurrent mood in everyday life. In a two-level approach, occasion-level and person-level effects could be modelled simultaneously. Within individuals, productive activities were perceived more difficult, on average, than nonproductive ones. Furthermore, perceived difficulty was lower the more positive concurrent mood was rated. Variance in these intra-individual slopes was partially explained by inter-individual differences in self-belief of efficacy regarding everyday activities.