Abstract
A total of 263 junior and senior high school students (grades 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12; ages 12 to 19) with relatively more informants identifying as females (57.4%) than males (42.6%) and more junior high school students (68.3%) than high school students (31.7%), along with 267 parents and 167 teachers responded to a student, parent, and teacher version of the German Test Anxiety Inventory (TAI-G) (Hoddapp & Benson, 1997). All reliabilities for all TAI-G scales for all three samples were above .70. The resulting data were fitted to two, three, and four factor models of test anxiety based on theoretical and empirical evidence. The four factor model (worry, emotion, distraction, lack of confidence) of the reduced (17 item) version of the TAI-G (Hoddapp & Benson, 1997) yielded the best fitting model for students (comparative fit index = .97; residual mean square = .042), parents (comparative fit index = .95; residual mean square = .073), and teachers (comparative fit index = .96; residual mean square = .080), thus providing very strong support for the proposed model. Sex, age, grade, and informant differences are presented and discussed. In conclusion, this study supports further research and use of a multi-informant assessment system of test anxiety.
Highlights
The construct of Test Anxiety (TA) has undergone considerable evolution since Sarason and Mandler’s (1952) early research demonstrating a link between anxiety and poor test performance
This foundational study was followed by the development of the Test Anxiety Scale for Children (TASC; Sarason et al, 1960) which measured TA among children as a unitary construct
All reliabilities for all TAI-G scales for all three samples were above
Summary
The construct of Test Anxiety (TA) has undergone considerable evolution since Sarason and Mandler’s (1952) early research demonstrating a link between anxiety and poor test performance This foundational study was followed by the development of the Test Anxiety Scale for Children (TASC; Sarason et al, 1960) which measured TA among children as a unitary construct. Sarason (1984) agreed, claiming that both worry (i.e., preoccupation with failure, negative self-talk) and cognitive interference (i.e., disruptive/blocking thoughts) could more accurately describe the cognitive domain of TA. As a result, this factor was represented in Sarason’s (1984) Reactions to Tests (RTT) scales, developed through factor analysis on a sample of undergraduate students. These contributions led to the development of a commonly utilized and accepted measure of TA in recent research: the German Test Anxiety Index (TAI-G; Hodapp, 1991, 1995)
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