Sex similarity in personality correlates of test anxiety

Test anxiety, anxiety disorders, and school-related wellbeing: Manifestations of the same or different constructs?

Previous studies have shown that highly test anxious persons are more likely to meet criteria for an anxiety disorder and report more frequent symptoms of anxiety disorders than their low test anxious counterparts. However, it is unclear whether test anxiety should be treated as distinct to, or a manifestation of, anxiety disorders. Furthermore, the Dual Factor Model of Mental Health proposes that high subjective wellbeing cannot be solely inferred from the absence of psychopathology. To date, no studies have examined the Dual Factor Model in relation to test anxiety. In the present study, we examined how test anxiety, two common anxiety disorders (i.e., generalized anxiety disorder [GAD] and panic disorder [PD]), and subjective wellbeing in the school domain (i.e., school-related wellbeing) were related in a sample of 918 adolescents (M age = 15.77 years) using network analysis and latent profile analysis. Results from the network analysis indicated that test anxiety, GAD, PD, and school-related wellbeing were represented as distinct constructs. Bridge nodes were identified that linked test anxiety with GAD, PD, and school-related wellbeing. The latent profile analysis identified three of the four profiles predicted by the Dual Factor Model, including (a) troubled (i.e., low school-related wellbeing, high test anxiety, GAD, and PD), (b) complete mental health (i.e., high school-related wellbeing, low test anxiety, GAD, and PD), and (c) symptomatic but content (i.e., average school-related wellbeing, test anxiety, GAD, and PD). We concluded that test anxiety was distinct from, rather than a manifestation of, GAD and PD. We found support for the Dual Factor Model, albeit not unequivocal, using test anxiety as an additional indicator of psychopathology to that of GAD and PD.

Does Test Anxiety Predispose Poor School-Related Wellbeing and Enhanced Risk of Emotional Disorders?

Background

Previous studies have shown that children and adolescents who report high levels of test anxiety also report symptoms of, and meet clinical criteria for, emotion disorders (anxiety and depression). However, the directionality of this relation cannot be established from existing studies: Is high test anxiety predisposing persons at elevated risk for developing emotion disorders or vice versa? In the present study, we addressed this question in a sample of adolescents. In addition to the risk of developing an emotion disorder, based on the Dual Factor Model of Mental Health, we also considered school-related wellbeing.

Method

Self-reported data were collected over two waves from 1198 participants, aged 16–19 years, in upper secondary education.

Results

Data were analysed using a structural equation model controlling for gender and age. We found reciprocal relations between test anxiety and elevated risk for developing emotion disorders, and between school-related wellbeing and elevated risk for developing emotion disorders. School-related wellbeing was negatively related to subsequent test anxiety but not vice versa.

Conclusions

Our findings imply that there would be downstream benefits to improved mental health from using interventions to address test anxiety but also, from addressing emotion disorders, to improve school-related wellbeing and test anxiety.

Actual and recalled test anxiety and flexibility, rigidity, and self-control

Recalled and actual test anxiety were compared, and the interrelationship of anxiety and certain personality variables was examined. Sex differences in the variables and in the correlations among variables were studied. The A-State scale of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory was administered to a sample of college students (N = 71) under different conditions and instructions. Scales that measure trait anxiety, dependency, flexibility, and self-control also were administered. Recalled test anxiety was significantly higher than actual TA. No significant sex differences were found in the means or correlations of the variables. A strong, positive relationship between A-Trait and dependency was found.

Comment on the Lin and Mc Keachie Article

Several points are made on the Lin and McKeachie paper and extensions suggested.