Abstract
The present study examined latent test anxiety profiles in a sample of 592 U.S. adolescents in grades 6-12 using latent profile analysis (LPA). The adolescents were administered a multidimensional measure of test anxiety in their schools. The results of LPA indicated that a three-profile test anxiety model provided the best fitting model. The three latent test anxiety subgroups were named low, medium, and high test anxiety. In addition, grade-level and gender were added as covariates to the model and LPA was performed again. Grade-level and gender were found to differentially predict membership in the latent test anxiety subgroups, with females more likely to be in the high latent test anxiety subgroup than in the medium and low latent test anxiety subgroups and middle school students were more likely to be in the high latent test anxiety subgroup than in the low latent test anxiety subgroup. Middle school students were also more likely to be in the medium latent test anxiety subgroup than in the low latent test anxiety subgroup. Implications for the development of measures, treatment, and prevention of test anxiety in the U.S. adolescent population are discussed.
Highlights
Testing is a common occurrence in schools in the United States and abroad (Bodas & Ollendick, 2005; Bodas, Ollendick, & Sovani, 2008; Lowe et al, 2008)
latent profile analysis (LPA) were performed on the Test Anxiety Measure for Adolescents (TAMA) and three models, two, three, and four-profile test anxiety models, were examined
The Lo-Mendell-Rubin Likelihood Ratio Test (LMR LRT) was significant for the two-profile and three-profile test anxiety models
Summary
Testing is a common occurrence in schools in the United States and abroad (Bodas & Ollendick, 2005; Bodas, Ollendick, & Sovani, 2008; Lowe et al, 2008). Students’ test scores are used to evaluate the quality of schools, to assist in educational decision making, and to determine whether students are meeting educational expectations (Every Student Succeeds Act, 2015; Jacob, Decker, & Timmerman Lugg, 2016) Many students in these evaluative situations experience test anxiety. The Test Anxiety Measure for Adolescents (TAMA) designed for secondary students in grades 6-12 in the United States and consists of cognitive (cognitive interference, social concerns, and worry), behavioral (task irrelevant behaviors), and physical (physiological hyperarousal) symptoms was developed based on Lowe et al.’s (2008) biopsychosocial model of test anxiety and the data from this measure will be used to perform latent profile analysis (LPA) in the present study. Few studies have been conducted in the field of test anxiety using LPA
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