High Anxiety Students Research Articles

The role of perceived parental over-involvement in student test anxiety

The effects of perceived parental over-involvement on students’ level of test anxiety were examined in two studies. In study 1, parental over-involvement scale was developed. The sample comprised 105 male and female undergraduate college students between the ages of 21 and 26. The scale contained two aspects of parental over-involvement: parental attitudes toward academic studies and parental involvement in academic studies. Students’ self-reported attitudes toward academic studies were also included. In study 2, the effects of the three aspects on students’ level of test anxiety were examined. The sample comprised 90 male and female undergraduate college students, between the ages of 21 and 26. Research hypotheses were that the two aspects of parental over-involvement and students’ attitudes will positively correlate with students' test anxiety and that results will persist with high anxious students. Finally, an exploratory question was examined as to whether the two aspects of parental over-involvement will differ in their impact on test anxiety. As expected all three factors positively correlated with test anxiety; however, regression analysis indicated that only parental involvement was predicting text anxiety. Results for participants with high test anxiety partially supported research hypothesis as parental involvement correlated with test anxiety (TA) total score and with worry but not with emotionality. Findings are discussed as response to the exploratory question. Finally, although not hypothesized, academic education of parents was positively related to students' test anxiety. Results suggest that parental attitudes and behaviors are significant factors in college students’ TA.

Multimedia Simulation Presentation in Empowering Students with Different Anxiety Levels in the Learning of Probability

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of multimedia simulation presentation developed in two different modes - Multiple Simulation Presentation (MSP) and Single Simulation Presentation (SSP) on the achievement of students with different levels of anxiety in the learning of Probability. The mathematical topic on “Probability” is considered to be abstract and difficult for students to understand and apply. The findings of this study showed that students using the SSP mode achieved significantly higher achievement than students using the MSP mode. The high anxiety students using the SSP mode achieved significantly higher achievement as compared to the high anxiety students using the MSP mode. This study concludes that the SSP mode is more effective for the learning of probability, especially for students with high anxiety level. From a cognitivist view point, this paper will discuss the effects of cognitive overloads on the information processing capacity of students with differing anxiety levels.

Reducing Cognitive Overload Among Students of Different Anxiety Levels Using Segmented Animation

This study investigated the effectiveness of segmented animation utilized to facilitate learning in the procedural knowledge of meiosis process. A total of 237 Secondary Four biology students with three different trait anxiety levels were randomly assigned to one of the experimental conditions: (a) text with static graphics (TSG), (b) text with animated graphics (TAG) and (c) text with segmented animation (TSG). Analysis of t-tests and ANCOVA were conducted by using intelligent quotients as a covariate. The results showed that segmented animation is more effective than continuous animation and static graphics for improving learning across all levels of anxiety. Seemingly, a continuous animation does not provide sufficient time for optimal cognitive processing of information, thus inhibiting effective learning. Segmented animation helps high anxiety students overcome the threat of extraneous cognitive load thus optimizing their information-processing abilities.

The role of presence in the level of anxiety experienced in clinical virtual environments

Recent reviews point towards that Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy (VRET) can be an effective medium to provide exposure therapy for anxiety disorders. The concept of presence, usually defined as the sense of being inside the virtual environment, has been considered the principal mechanism that leads to the experience of anxiety in clinical virtual environments. The present study sought to examine the relationship between sense of presence and in-session anxiety in a sample of 210 students showing high and low test anxiety when exposed to both clinical and non-stressful virtual environments. This is the largest study conducted to date with the aim of examining the relationship between presence and anxiety in clinical virtual environments, and the first to explore separately the relationship between presence and state-anxiety in phobic and non-phobic participants. The results suggest that presence was not related to anxiety in a non-stressful environment. It was also found that although presence is related to anxiety in both groups of students when exposed to clinical virtual environments, this relationship was clearly stronger for high test anxiety students. This line of research will broaden our understanding of the mechanisms that lead to the efficacy of VRET.

Influence of personality and individual abilities on the sense of presence experienced in anxiety triggering virtual environments

In the literature, there are few studies of the human factors involved in the engagement of presence. The present study aims to investigate the influence of five user characteristics – test anxiety, spatial intelligence, verbal intelligence, personality and computer experience – on the sense of presence. This is the first study to investigate the influence of spatial intelligence on the sense of presence, and the first to use an immersive virtual reality system to investigate the relationship between users’ personality characteristics and presence. The results show a greater sense of presence in test anxiety environments than in a neutral environment. Moreover, high test anxiety students feel more presence than their non-test anxiety counterparts. Spatial intelligence and introversion also influence the sense of presence experienced by high test anxiety students exposed to anxiety triggering virtual environments. These results may help to identify new groups of patients likely to benefit from virtual reality exposure therapy.

Communication via Videoconference: Emotional and Cognitive Consequences of Affective Personality Dispositions, Seeing One's Own Picture, and Disturbing Events

Experiment 1 examined the behavior of 88 students participating in a simulated oral examination via videoconference. Dispositional test anxiety was assessed and the size of the picture of candidates was manipulated. As expected, high-anxious students reported higher emotional arousal and achieved lower performance than low-anxious students. However, performance differences were only found when the large picture of candidates was presented. Experiment 2 investigated reactions of 60 students during the simulation of a less threatening consultation episode. The nature of video information and the occurrence of disturbing events were manipulated. In addition, the dispositions positive and negative affectivity were assessed. As expected, these dispositions had a significant impact on the experience of emotions. Controlling for these dispositional effects, results revealed an intensification of expressing anger in conditions in which participants saw their own picture. Moreover, the occurrence of problems during communication yielded strong dislike, longing and shame, low counseling quality, and low task performance in particular if participants could see their own picture simultaneously. Thus, seeing one's own picture can easily arouse negative affective reactions. As both studies reveal that seeing one's own picture might also hinder performance, the role of one's own picture in a videoconference deserves much more attention in practice and theory.

Interaction analysis of physician–patient communication: the influence of trait anxiety on communication and outcome

Little attention has been paid to how patients’ personality traits interfere with the communication and the outcome of physician–patient interaction. We performed an experimental study with students with high and low trait anxiety as patients. One physician conducted a single consultation with 41 students applying two beforehand-specified consultation styles. Patients completed questionnaires concerning emotional state and satisfaction. The actual content of the consultations was analyzed by Roter interaction analysis system (RIAS). The physician gave more biomedical information to low-anxiety students than high-anxiety students. Students who provided a lot of biomedical information themselves were less tense after the consultation. However, students with high anxiety were more dependent on the physician actively asking biomedical questions for them to be able to deliver that same information. In contrast to low-anxiety students, those with high anxiety were less satisfied after consultations involving many psychosocial questions posed by the physician and a good deal of emotional talk on their own part. Compared to low-anxiety students, students with high anxiety were less satisfied and tenser after consultations with much positive emotional talk on the part of the physician. We conclude that physicians and educators should be aware that psychological and emotional communication may be experienced as intrusive and inappropriate by patients with high trait anxiety when they present minor somatic problems.

Anxiety about Foreign Language Learning among High School Women

This study examined the relationship between anxiety and native language skill and foreign language aptitude measures among 154 high school foreign language learners. Three levels of anxiety were identified using the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale or FLCAS (Horwitz, Horwitz, & Cope, 1986). Low Anxiety (LO‐ANX) students were expected to have significantly stronger native language skills and foreign language aptitude than High Anxiety (HI‐ANX) students and significantly higher foreign language grades. Average Anxiety (AVE‐ANX) students were expected to score somewhere in‐between. Findings showed overall significant differences among the groups on nine variables, including measures of native language phonology/orthography, semantics, and verbal memory; foreign language aptitude; eighth‐grade English grade; and end‐of‐year foreign language grade. On measures of phonology/orthography, eighth‐grade English, and foreign language grade, LO‐ANX and AVE‐ANX students outperformed HI‐ANX students. On a foreign language aptitude measure and foreign language grade, LO‐ANX students outperformed both AVE‐ and HI‐ANX students. On measures of verbal memory and reading comprehension, LO‐ANX students outperformed HI‐ANX students. Discriminant analysis results showed that all test measures but one were significant in distinguishing the three groups. Among others, implications include the suggestion that skill in one's native language and aptitude for learning a foreign language may affect anxiety level and that the FLCAS may provide an early indicator of basic language problems.

Library anxiety: Characteristics of ‘at-risk’ college students

Library anxiety is a psychological barrier to academic success among college students. This study of 493 university students examined factors which predict library anxiety. A setwise multiple regression analysis revealed that eight variables (age, sex, year of study, native language, grade point average, employment status, frequency of library visits, and reason for using the library) contributed significantly to the prediction of library anxiety. Analysis of variance, which included trend analysis, revealed that freshmen reported the highest level of library anxiety, and that this level declined linearly as a function of year of study. Based on these findings, both librarians and teaching faculty should be aware of the characteristics of high-anxious students, and increase the availability of anxiety-reducing interventions for students.

An Assessment of Cooperative Learning used for Basic Computer Skills Instruction in the College Classroom

This article reports research on the use of cooperative learning strategies in a computer skills lab course at the college level. An experimental design was used to compare the difference in learning performance and student retention in the course between a section taught using cooperative teams and one taught in the traditional individual learning format. Both sections were taught by the regular full-time professor. The results showed that both performance and retention were significantly improved with the use of cooperative learning. The study also included a measure of computer anxiety the analysis of which resulted in a significant interaction between section and anxiety for overall course grade percentage, the high anxiety students doing much better in the cooperative learning section than in the individual learning section. The high anxiety students all experienced a reduction in anxiety regardless of treatment. However, the change in anxiety was most dramatic for the high anxiety students in the cooperative learning treatment, their group mean fell within the low anxiety range at the end of the course.

The Effect of Time Constraints and Statistics Test Anxiety on Test Performance in a Statistics Course

Abstract The performance of students who completed a statistics examination under time limits was compared with that of students under no time limits. Another purpose of the study was to determine whether students high or low in statistics test anxiety were affected differentially by these two examination conditions. Twenty-six graduate students who were enrolled in an intermediate-level statistics course were randomly assigned to the two examination groups, timed or untimed. Both low- and high-anxious students performed better on the final course examination under the untimed condition than under the timed condition. However, the benefit of the untimed examination was greater for high-anxious students than for low-anxious students. The results were interpreted using Hill's (1984) and Wine's (1980) conceptual frameworks. The results suggest that differences between high- and low-anxious students in evaluative situations are caused by differences between them in motivational disposition and attentional focus.

Test anxiety and comprehension efficiency: The role of prior knowledge and working memory deficits

Abstract The hypotheses that test anxiety is associated with a deficit in prior knowledge and/or working memory capacity, that anxiety impairs comprehension efficiency, and that deficits in knowledge and capacity underlie the efficiency impairment, were tested. In Study 1, high-anxiety students were characterized by lower scores in several vocabulary measures, compared with low-anxiety students. In Study 2, high-anxiety individuals showed inferior working memory capacity to low-anxiety individuals under evaluative stress conditions, but not under non-stress conditions. In Study 3 high-anxiety subjects exhibited lower efficiency scores than low-anxiety subjects in expository texts without a summary: The former employed a greater amount of reading time than the latter to acquire an equivalent amount of information. In addition, the disadvantage in efficiency associated with anxiety was removed when differences in vocabulary knowledge were partialled out statistically. Instead, that disadvantage was only red...

An examination of the tension reduction hypothesis: The relationship between anxiety and alcohol in college students

The Tension Reduction Theory posits that alcohol is consumed to achieve tension reduction. The drinking patterns of high anxiety college students differed from low anxiety college students. Eighty-one students completed the Trait scale of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and the Khavari Alcohol Test (KAT). Several indices of alcohol use derived from the KAT were used to assess patterns of alcohol use. Five two-way analyses of variance were conducted using gender and anxiety as factors. Hypothesis One predicted that there would be a significant difference in alcohol consumption between high and low anxiety students when a comprehensive measure of alcohol use was used. This hypothesis was supported. Hypothesis Two predicted that frequency alone would not differentiate between anxiety levels; this was also supported. The Third Hypothesis was that volume measures of beer, wine and liquor would differentiate between the high and low anxiety levels; this hypothesis was partially supported—beer volume did differentiate between groups, while wine and liquor volume did not. The final hypothesis was that there would be an interaction between gender and anxiety; this was not supported.

Daily heterosocial interactions of high and low socially anxious college students: A diary study

Heterosocial anxiety has been assessed in a variety of ways, but little emphasis has been placed on collecting data in the person's social environment. The present study employed a behavioral diary to examine the daily heterosocial interactions of high- and low-socially-anxious students in the natural environment. Highanxious students participated in fewer interactions over a two-week period and reported higher anxiety, poorer performance, and less satisfaction with their performance than low-anxious students. Total and mean duration of interactions did not discriminate between groups, and subjects' sex made little difference. The impact of a variety of situational variables was also assessed. Issues regarding the use of heterosocial diaries for behavioral assessment are discussed.

Test Anxiety: Interference, Defective Skills, and Cognitive Capacity

This paper reviews the differences between two interpretations accounting for the poor test performance of high-anxious students: (a) that anxiety interferes with retrieval of prior learning, or (b) that either of two types of deficits in study or test-taking skills may account for these findings. Research results dealing with these hypotheses are reviewed. It was concluded that these were complementary, rather than mutually exclusive formulations. A hypothesis was advanced suggesting that test anxiety debilitates performance by reducing the cognitive capacity available for task solution, and that study or test-taking skills facilitate learning and test performance by reducing the cognitive capacity demanded by different tasks.

Individualizing through treatment matching: A necessary but not sufficient approach

The effects of various alternative treatments (modules), designed to compensate for student differences in precourse memory abilities (processing and retrieval skills) and motivation (anxiety, curiosity), were investigated for lessons differing in content and task requirements. Performance on each module was compared to performance on the original (mainline) instructional module for 63 to 171 students in the Air Force Advanced Instructional System’s inventory management course. Interaction analyses on lesson times-to-criterion and criterion test scores indicated that the compensating treatments were partially effective in improving the performance of low-memory or low-reading ability students, low-curious students, or high-anxious students. Additional benefits that may be expected from an individualization approach that attempts to modify students’ cognitive and affective learning strategies are discussed.

Anxiety and cueing in a visual concept learning task

This study investigated the relationship of two anxiety measures to performance on a visual concept acquisition task. Criterial information was embedded at two levels for the noncued treatment group and made salient by color cues for the cued treatment group. Two-way analyses of variance were used and indicated a significant interaction between cueing treatment andState-Trait Anxiety Inventory (stai) anxiety scores for the heavily embedded figures. Further research is suggested utilizing different populations and cueing techniques. The addition of cues is suggested for deeply embedded criterial information for use with high-anxiety students.

Effects of reducing student anxiety in a statistics course

Abstract The undergraduate statistics course can be a difficult hurdle for many Psychology students, particularly those who are anxious about the course. Undergraduate statistics students were divided into high-anxious and low-anxious groups by means of a questionnaire. Half the high-anxious students received a do-it-yourself desensitization program used at home with a tape player. It included training in deep-muscle relaxation and working through a hierarchy of fear situations related to the statistics course. Initial anxiety dropped for both anxious groups, but more so for the treated students. Performance on the exams also showed significance or borderline significance for the treated subjects. Multi-variate analysis revealed associations between treatment, lowered end of year anxiety and an increase in statistics knowledge. In the overview, keeping in mind the small N's involved in this study (13 exp, 12 cont), we feel that this approach to statistics anxiety has promise, requiring minimal instructor ...

The measurement of test anxiety in a reading class

Abstract Recent research demonstrates a negative correlation between test anxiety and reading comprehension by college students. Seemingly, high anxious students get lower comprehension because they ignore or do not integrate cue's from different parts of the text. For the clinician, the problem is how to diagnose test anxiety. The Test Anxiety Scale (TAS) is shown to be a reliable and valid instrument for separating test anxious readers in a population of students. A cutting score is proposed that seems to work in the reading program. Suggestions for reducing reading anxiety are presented. The 16 item TAS is included in the article.

Some sources and consequences of career exploration

The present research investigated (a) factors that may influence participation in career exploration, and (b) the role of anxiety in the exploration process. The sample consisted of 161 undergraduate college students. Work-role salience (the importance of work in a person's life) was positively related to participation in self-related and work-related exploration. Self-related exploration was positively related to satisfaction with the occupational decision of low anxiety students and was negatively related to satisfaction among high anxiety students. Furthermore, dissatisfaction with an occupational decision was more likely to stimulate future work-related exploration for low anxiety students than for highly anxious students. The implications of these findings for the career exploration process were discussed.