Higher Test Anxiety Scores Research Articles

Empowering Adolescents: Exploring the Relationship between Self-Esteem and Test Anxiety

Background: Test anxiety is a major cause of student non-performance, despite adequate preparation. This paper is part of a multi-centric youth behavior study project done in 2022 by the Association of Adolescent and Child Care in India (AACCI). Aims: to study self-esteem and test anxiety in school children. Methods: The tools used were RSES- Rosenburg Self-esteem Score (scores >25 are considered high self-esteem and FTAS- Freidben Test Anxiety Scale (scores > 7 are considered significant). Sample: 242 students (10-18 years) studying in a coaching class in Aurangabad (males 53.31%, females 46.69%). Validity & reliability: The RSES - Guttman scale coefficient of reproducibility is 0.92, indicating excellent internal consistency. Test-retest reliability over 2 weeks reveals correlations of 0.85 and 0.88. FTAS- the internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha) of the total and the three sub-scales of the FTA (range: .81-.91validity, 0.82 (girls) and 0.84 (boys). It has also been shown to be significantly correlated with peer evaluations of the degree to which test-related stress is experienced (Total: 0.54; Fear of Social Derogation: 0.52; Cognitive Obstruction: 0.64; and Tenseness: 0.78. Ethical issues: This project has been cleared by the AACCI IEC. Parental permission and assent of students were taken. Statistical analysis was done using t-test/ANOVA by GNU PSPP. Results: Analysis of our data showed that this sample had significant mean test anxiety scores: total FTAS (9.19±5.37). SD-Social Derogation (3.84±2.61), CO-Cognitive Obstruction (2.46±2.17), and T-Tenseness (2.88±1.95). Females showed higher scores - total FTAS (10.23±5.10) and SD (4.40±2.54). A strong correlation was found between FTAS score and SD factor across all ages with the strongest positive correlation coefficient for early adolescent female students r (24) =.92, p<.001. Conclusion: Females had higher test anxiety scores, and lower self-esteem scores and will need specific intervention. Being judged by marks affects the self-esteem of adolescents. SD factor was significant across ages in this sample. AACCI conducts awareness programs for parents and teachers to reduce social pressure on children given high SD scores. We also conduct intervention programs for improving CO scores by instilling good study skills and habits and relaxation and stress relief methods to reduce T scores in the context of test anxiety.

Remote Online Test Anxiety during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Crisis: A Cross-Sectional Study among Medical Students

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) forced higher education to adopt e-learning and remote online tests as a kind of assessment that leads to new paradigms. Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the medical students' test anxiety toward remote online tests during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: The current cross-sectional study has been conducted in the 2020-2021 academic year. A self-reported online questionnaire was used to investigate the medical students' test anxiety at Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran. The survey consisted of demographic characteristics, including gender, age, and curriculum phase, as well as the validated version of the Sarasons's test anxiety scale in Persian. Results: The findings indicated that the prevalence rates of mild, moderate, and severe test anxiety were 27.9%, 36.9%, and 35.2%, respectively, toward remote online tests. Although the comparison of test anxiety levels showed a statistically significant difference due to gender and age (P<0.05), the difference in test anxiety among the students of basic sciences and preclinical was not significant (P>0.05). Furthermore, the female students' test anxiety was more than that of male students, and participants over 20 years old had higher test anxiety scores (P<0.05). Conclusion: Moderate to severe test anxiety was more common in medical students, which can have devastating effects on the students' academic performance. There is a critical need to recommend anxiety management techniques and bring reforms in e-assessment systems to reduce test anxiety in medical students.

Test Anxiety: Benign or Malignant for Students with Vision Impairment?

Test anxiety has been identified as a threat in evaluative situations and academic performance by sighted students. Students with vision impairment are no exception to it. This study investigated the test anxiety scores of the students with vision impairment in South Australia. It also provided insights into the reasons for high test anxiety in the participants studied. This study was divided into two Stages-1 and 2. The Spielberger’s Test Anxiety questionnaire was administered on students with vision impairment in Stage 1. Interviews were conducted in Stage 2 with participants with vision impairment, their parents and teachers. The Stage 1 results revealed that the majority of the adult females with vision impairment and all adult males with vision impairment obtained high test anxiety scores. The majority of the adolescent females and males with vision impairment were noted to have test anxiety scores in the high to moderate range. A great number of participants with vision impairment scored higher in the emotionality in comparison to the worry subscale of test anxiety. The high test anxiety scores are congruent with the interview responses obtained from the three groups of respondents. A number of factors have been identified as the major determinants of test anxiety in students with vision impairment.Keywords: test anxiety, participants with vision impairment, worry, emotionality, South Australia

Is test anxiety a peril for students with intellectual disabilities?

Test anxiety is one of the most confronting issues in modern times with the increase in the number of standardised and high-stakes testing. Research has established that there is a direct link between test anxiety and cognitive deficits. The aim of this study is to determine the test anxiety scores of the students with intellectual disabilities in South Australia. It also provided insights into the reasons for high-test anxiety in the participants under study. The Spielberger's Test Anxiety Questionnaire was administered on students with intellectual disabilities in stage 1. Interviews were conducted with participants with intellectual disabilities, parents and teachers in stage 2. Questionnaire findings revealed that the majority of the adolescent females and males and all adult females with intellectual disabilities had high test anxiety scores. However, the majority of adult males with intellectual disabilities obtained moderate test anxiety scores. In the worry and emotionality subscales, it was also found that the majority of adolescents and adults with intellectual disabilities were found to score high. The high test anxiety scores have been justified by the interview responses obtained from the three groups of respondents. A number of factors have been identified to be the major predictors of test anxiety in students with intellectual disabilities.

Situational and Personal Determinants of Academic Procrastination

Abstract Female college students (N = 112) completed a test battery of personality scales and performance tasks at home over four consecutive evenings, under one of eight combinations of the following experimental conditions: Schedule Source (experimenter versus self) × Scheduled Starting Time (strict versus lenient) × Plausibility of the Experiment. Delay in starting, summed over four evenings, constituted the measure of behavioral procrastination. This measure was moderately correlated with high test anxiety scores and low self-regulation. Procrastination was exacerbated when subjects were permitted to schedule the time of their expected completion of the test battery. Significant interactions of specific experimental conditions and specific personal traits demonstrated the situational requirements for trait-behavior relationships to emerge. Findings supported the internal consistency and construct validity of the behavioral procrastination measure. The practical and heuristic applications of a stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) design and the theory-coordinated choice of experimental manipulation and corresponding organismic variable are recommended for future investigations of procrastination.

General, social, and academic self-concepts of gifted adolescents

Seven hundred seventy-two male and female adolescents (between the ages of 12 and 15) participated in a study concerning the identification and socioemotional situation of various subgroups of gifted students (N=94). In this article only the results concerning general, social, and academic selfconcepts of gifted adolescents are reported. A distinction is made between four groups: two groups of gifted achievers (one with high (N=22) and another with below average creativity questionnaire scores (N=45), a group of gifted underachievers (N =27), and a control group (N=74). The multiple and hierarchical model of self-concept by Shavelson et al.serves as a framework for our approach. The most striking differences are found between gifted achievers and gifted underachievers. The latter demonstrate very low academic self-concept and high test anxiety scores, an external locus of control, and low scores on school well-being and motivation. A positive self-concept in all areas seems to be the driving force for achievements, which are in accordance with high potential intellectual aptitudes. Similar results were reported by Feldhusen.

Preference for situations involving effort, time pressure, and feedback in relation to Type A behavior, locus of control, and test anxiety.

Eighty subjects from an introductory psychology course rated the desirability of eight course structures that differed according to all combinations of the presence or absence of effort required for success, time pressure, and the provision of feedback. Subjects also completed questionnaire measures of the Type A behavior pattern, test anxiety, and external locus of control. Results showed that the Type A behavior pattern was negatively related to external locus of control and that externals tended to have higher test anxiety scores than internals. Multiple regression analyses that involved the personality variables and age and gender showed that the Type A variable predicted preference for course structures that involved effort and feedback and that external control predicted preference for course structures that were independent of effort and provided little feedback. Test anxiety and desirability ratings were positively correlated for the course structure that was not dependent on effort, had little time pressure, and had little feedback. The results were consistent with the view that individuals seek out and prefer situations that are consistent with their personality characteristics.

A cross-cultural study of the test anxiety levels in Iranian and Indian students

This study compared the test anxiety levels of Iranian ( N = 160) and Indian ( N = 160) school and college students. Significant main effects of Culture, Educational Level and Sex indicated that the Iranian students had higher Test Anxiety scores than their Indian counterparts, and females reported higher test anxiety than males. A significant Culture x Educational Level x Sex interaction revealed, however, that level of education had opposite effects within the Indian culture: Indian school females reported more test anxiety than their college counterparts; Indian college males had higher test anxiety than their school counterparts. Iranian school males and females both reported higher test anxiety than their college counterparts. Tricultural differences in the test anxiety levels of comparable student groups in Iran, India and the U.S. were interpreted as reflecting East-West cultural factors that influenced reactions to objective examinations, resulting in greater test anxiety in Eastern cultures.

Contingent vs. noncontingent EMG feedback and hand temperature in relation to anxiety and locus of control.

This study was designed to measure the effects of contingent and noncontingent EMG feedback on hand temperature, anxiety, and locus of control. Two groups of six subjects each were selected on the basis of high test-anxiety scores. The groups participated in a reverse design study in which Group 1 received five sessions of contingent EMG ffedback followed by five sessions of noncontingent feedback. Group 2 received noncontingent feedback followed by contingent feedback. Results indicate a significant order of treatment effect. Subjects who received contingent feedback first produced lower EMG readings, lower test-anxiety scores, and higher hand temperatures during noncontingent feedback sessions. Receiving noncontingent feedback first may actually have interfered with utilizing contingent feedback.

EDUCATIONAL STREAMING AND GENERAL AND TEST ANXIETY

In recent years a number of studies have been done by Sarason and others (9, Io, II, 12, 15) into the nature, effects, and correlates of test anxiety in elementary school children. The consistency and theoretical comprehensibility of their findings seem to justify the conclusion that the Yale Anxiety Scales are valid measures of general and test anxiety in the populations for which they were designed. Some of the evidence pertaining to the validity of the scales came from cross-cultural investigations of American and English school children. Sarnoff et al. (1I, 12) reported that English children had higher test anxiety scores than a comparable group of American boys and girls, and they argued that this difference was a consequence of the educational streaming practices currently used in England. In the course of a study of relations between motivational variables and quality of school performance, the present writer administered an Australian adaptation of the Yale Anxiety Scales (3) to a sample of 266 children attending primary (elementary) school in Canberra. Since there is educational streaming in these Canberra schools, it was decided to investigate the effects of this educational policy on general and test anxiety scores. The present study has two other purposes: to continue an analysis (2) of the relation between general and test anxiety and to provide further evidence of the validity of the two scales.