Author's note: The research for this article was supported by a grant from the American Institute for Maghrebi Studies and by the Florida International University Faculty Development Fund, and writing support came from the McKnight Programs in Higher Education. Field research was facilitated by the Centre d'Etudes maghrebines à Tunis and by the Tunisian Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research. The author thanks the 12 Tunisian politicians who granted lengthy interviews and wishes to acknowledge the cooperation of local officials in four Tunisian municipalities and the assistance of Peter Lifton, Cathy Wolfheim, and 10 advanced FlU psychology students who read and evaluated interview transcripts for this study.

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⁹ For this task, 10 American male and female advanced psychology students were recruited, as were 1 public health specialist with several years of experience working with Tunisian women, and 1 American practicing psychologist trained in personality assessment. The latter two were specially enlisted as an internal control for validity of assessment. All judges were asked to read the interview transcripts (translated from French into English for the benefit of the 11 nonfrancophone judges) and evaluate the 12 subjects with regard to the trait of efficacy. To assist them in interpreting interview responses and to sensitize them to cultural differences, judges were provided written background materials, and the student judges were required to attend a lengthy lecture on Tunisian family and culture.

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¹³ Mean scores for subjects rated high ranged from 7.6 to 8.7; for subjects rated moderately high, the range was from 6.8 to 7.1.

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¹⁹ In a 1970 study, Klineberg noted a similar effect (Klineberg, S., “Intergenerational Change: Some Psychological Consequences of Modernization,” in Change in Tunisia, pp. 289–310). Whether or not a student remained in school was a more important correlate of efficacy than was the number of years of school completed. Success in school, rather than knowledge obtained, seems to be the crucial factor.Google Scholar

²⁰ Further evidence of this pattern is seen in Naima, one of the two low-efficacy subjects who also shares something of this class background, although the urban setting in which she was raised was smaller and socially less sophisticated. In the company of her male colleagues and in the interview setting, Naima was demure and retiring, visibly uncomfortable. With the interview setting behind us, however, she warmed up considerably, gently asking me many questions about the study and graciously inviting me to be her family's guest should I return to the town. While it is hard to imagine this passive young woman as a leader of great initiative in any setting, it may well be that in a context more personally comfortable she would appear more engaged, more competent, and more resourceful.

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