Test Anxiety, Academic Achievement, and Self-Esteem among Arab Adolescents with and without Learning Disabilities

Abstract

The aim of the current study was twofold: (a) to explore differences in test anxiety and self-esteem between adolescents with learning disabilities (LD) and those without them; (b) and to study the relationship between test anxiety and academic achievement. This research is the first to consider these relationships among Christian Arab adolescents living in Israel as an Eastern collectivist minority. Before the final examination of the first semester of the school year, 102 Christian Arab students completed Friedman and Bendas-Jacob's Test Anxiety Questionnaire (1997) and Rosenberg's Self-Esteem Inventory (1965), and teachers reported their academic grades. A series of one-way analyses of variance were run to check for differences between the two groups. On the whole, students with LD reported higher levels of test anxiety and lower levels of self-esteem than their nondisabled peers. Their intense distress can be expected to impair their academic performance.