Teachers use of fear appeals: Association with student and teacher mental health

BACKGROUND

Fear appeals are discourses commonly used by teachers to motivate students especially when academic outcomes are paramount. Fear appeals have been associated with better and worse academic performance by the student recipients, with some evidence that fear appeals are detrimental for students who are anxious and have lower self-efficacy. Little is known about the factors that drive teachers' use of fear appeals beyond a desire to increase motivation to excel.

AIMS

This study examined the relationship between the use of fear appeals, psychological distress, and self-efficacy in both teachers and students.

SAMPLE

Participants were 377 students (81% female, age range 15 to 18, M = 16.68, SD = 0.49) and 96 teachers (73% female, Mean years teaching = 18.04, SD = 12.39).

METHODS

Participants completed surveys mid-way through the first school term of their final year of high school. Student surveys examined student anxiety, depression, stress, self-efficacy, and experience of teacher fear appeals. Teacher surveys examined teacher anxiety, depression, stress, emotional burnout, self-efficacy, years of teaching, and use of fear appeals.

RESULTS

Teachers use of fear appeals was associated with student distress which was heightened for students with lower academic self-efficacy. Similarly, teachers' use of fear appeals was associated with higher anxiety and lower self-efficacy in teachers themselves.

CONCLUSIONS

Therefore, the use and consequence of fear appeals is strongly linked to both student and teacher self-efficacy and distress. Given the detrimental impacts of fear appeals on academic performance in vulnerable students, more research is needed on the consequences of fear appeals.

Tracking stress, depression, and anxiety across the final year of secondary school: A longitudinal study

Levels of distress, which include stress, depression, and anxiety, are often heightened during the final year of secondary school and have been linked to major examinations that occur during this time period. However, relatively little is known about how these symptoms change over the course of the year or what moderates symptom severity. Using a longitudinal survey design, we tracked student outcomes and potential moderators (i.e., gender, test anxiety, self-efficacy, connectedness with peers, school and family, perceived use of fear appeals by teachers) associated with stress, depression, and anxiety once per term (i.e., 4 times total) over the final year of high school in seven Australian high schools. We hypothesised that student symptoms would increase over time and that symptom severity would be moderated by individual and environmental factors. Six hundred and thirty-eight unique students (M age = 16.95 years, SD = 0.56, range = 15-18 years, female = 474 [74.29%]) participated in at least one of the four surveys administered during each term of the final year of high school. Linear mixed models indicated that stress (d = 0.2) and anxiety (d = 1.7) increased over time. When all potential moderators of distress were entered into the full model, gender, test anxiety, emotional self-efficacy, and peer connectedness were all significant unique predictors of stress. Similar patterns were found for symptoms of depression and anxiety. Time 3 stress was predicted by unique variance in baseline stress, higher test anxiety, and academic self-efficacy. Overall distress increased over time and was moderated by gender, as well as by test anxiety, self-efficacy, and peer connectedness, which are areas that can then be targeted by interventions designed to maintain distress at optimum levels for wellbeing and academic performance.

Relationships between test anxiety and metacognition in Chinese young adults with and without specific learning disabilities

The influence of test anxiety on academic difficulties has been investigated in typically developing students, but the mechanism underlying the influence remains unclear, especially for those with specific learning disabilities (SpLDs). This study examined the role of metacognition in the relationship between test anxiety and literacy difficulties among Chinese typically developing adolescents as well as those who have been identified as having an SpLD and significant literacy difficulties (i.e., typically functioning SpLD) and without significant literacy difficulties (i.e., high-functioning SpLD) in Taiwan. A total of 238 first-year undergraduate students were recruited from eleven universities in South Taiwan. Among 238 students, 105 were identified to have SpLDs, and 133 were typically developing students. These students were asked to complete questionnaires on demographics, test anxiety, metacognition, and literacy difficulties (i.e., reading and writing). Structural equation modeling analyses showed that test anxiety among Chinese adolescents was linked to literacy difficulties but that only high-functioning and typically functioning students with SpLDs experienced a direct effect (without mediation by other factors). For those without SpLDs, the influence of test anxiety on literacy difficulties was not direct but significantly mediated by metacognition. Various components of these students' metacognition had mediating effects on different literacy difficulties. Test anxiety might influence the reading and writing difficulties of typically developing adolescents and those with typically functioning and high-functioning SpLDs through different mechanisms. Moreover, teachers at the university level are encouraged to consider students' test anxiety and metacognition when preparing their teaching materials.

Academic Stress in the Final Years of School: A Systematic Literature Review

Heightened academic stress in the final years of schooling is a common concern, yet little is known about how stress changes over time and what individual, school and family factors are associated with distress. We conducted a systematic review to examine the nature of distress in students in their final two years of secondary school. Sixty studies were eligible for inclusion. The main findings indicated severity of distress differed across the 17 countries sampled and measures used. There was some consistencies suggesting about 1 in 6 students experienced excessive distress. Female gender and anxiety proneness were consistently associated with increased distress, and freedom from negative cognitions with reduced distress. There was some evidence that individual characteristics (perfectionism, avoidance, coping, self-efficacy, resilience), lifestyle (sleep, homework), school, family and peer connectedness were associated with distress. Overall at-risk students can be predicted by theoretical models of anxiety and distress targeted with psychological interventions.

An Empirical Study on the Relationship between Causes of Teacher Examination Anxiety and Dimensions of Coping with Pre-Exam Anxiety: A Structural Equation Modelling Approach

In recent years, examination anxiety among teachers assumes a critical sphere in the global academic environment. The causes of teacher examination anxiety in education have been reviewed by a few scholars. This shows that teacher examination anxiety and its impact on academic development are limited in research. Therefore, this study investigated the linear relationship between two self-report instruments – the causes of teacher examination anxiety and dimensions of coping with pre-exam anxiety. The study adopted a quantitative approach with three-hundred teachers from four secondary schools in Nigeria and twenty teachers from two secondary schools in North Cyprus participated in the survey. Also, a Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was utilized for the analysis. The results of the study indicate that the two factors (teacher causes of exam anxiety and dimensions of coping with pre-exam anxiety) are interconnected. The results also indicate teachers’ preparation for examinations coupled with various dimensions of anxiety is a complex task that demands educational stakeholders to constantly improving on causes of examination anxiety and factors of pre-exam anxiety among teachers for better academic and ethical development.

Evaluation of a coaching workshop for the management of veterinary nursing students' OSCE-associated test anxiety

Background

High stress levels amongst undergraduates (particularly in relation to assessment) and efforts to improve mental wellbeing have been increasingly reported in the veterinary educational literature. However reports to date have primarily focused on the experiences of students of veterinary medicine, rather than veterinary nursing students.

Methods

The purpose of this mixed method sequential explanatory study was to establish the "Big-five" personality traits and quantify the level of test anxiety associated with objective structured clinical examinations (OSCEs) amongst a cohort of 23 final year veterinary nursing students at an Irish third level college. The 12 item Brief FRIEDBEN Test Anxiety Scale (B-FTAS) and the 20 item mini International Personality Item Pool (mini-IPIP) were used to identify test anxiety levels and personality traits in this cohort. Focus groups were then employed to examine the effectiveness of a coaching intervention in ameliorating this test anxiety.

Results

The initial, quantitative, phase found these students to have higher levels of test anxiety than previously reported for undergraduates sitting written examinations. No association was found between test anxiety and neurotic personality traits in this student cohort. In the qualitative follow up phase the coaching intervention was reported to have been helpful in equipping the students to better manage test anxiety. The OSCE stressors identified in this study closely resembled those previously reported by nursing and midwifery students.

Conclusions

The shared experience of the coaching intervention and formative OSCE was reported to have been helpful in empowering the students to manage assessment-associated anxiety. Implications and recommendations for educators were identified.

Test anxiety effects, predictors, and correlates: A 30-year meta-analytic review

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Since the 1988 publication of Hembree's seminal meta-analysis on test anxiety, much has changed in the theoretical conceptualization of test anxiety, as well as the influences on test performance. The present study examined the influence of test anxiety on a variety of educational outcomes, in addition to demographic and intrapersonal correlates.

DESIGN AND METHODS

Results of 238 studies from 1988 to the present, were synthesized via a meta-analytic framework to explicate predictors, correlates, and relationships with the test anxiety construct. Pooled effect sizes were calculated.

RESULTS

Results indicated that test anxiety was significantly and negatively related to a wide range of educational performance outcomes, including standardized tests, university entrance exams, and grade point average. Results were most pronounced at the middle grades level. Self-esteem was a significant and strong predictor of test anxiety. Perceived difficulty of the test and the high-stakes nature or consequences of the test was also related to higher test anxiety.

CONCLUSIONS

The magnitude of the relationship of test anxiety across a number of variables was in the small to moderate range. Implications for researchers and educators are discussed including the use of evidence-based assessment and interventions when warranted.

Fear appeals, engagement, and examination performance: The role of challenge and threat appraisals

BACKGROUND

Fear appeals are persuasive messages that draw attention to the negative consequences (e.g., academic failure) that follow a particular course of action (e.g., not engaging in lessons) and how negative consequences can be avoided with an alternate course of action. Previous studies have shown that when fear appeals are appraised as threatening, they are related to lower examination performance.

AIM

In this study, we examined how challenge, as well as threat, appraisals are indirectly related to performance on a mathematics examination through behavioural engagement.

SAMPLE

A total of 579 students from two secondary schools.

METHOD

Data were collected over four waves at approximately 3-month intervals. Behavioural engagement data were collected at T₁ and T₃ , fear appeal frequency and appraisal at T₃ , and examination performance at T₂ and T₄ .

RESULTS

A challenge appraisal of fear appeals predicted better examination performance through higher behavioural engagement whereas a threat appraisal of fear appeals predicted worse examination performance through lower behavioural engagement.

CONCLUSION

The relationship between fear appeals and examination performance depended on their appraisal.