Premium
Personal and situational predictors of test anxiety of students in post‐compulsory education
Author(s) -
Putwain David W.,
Woods Kevin A.,
Symes Wendy.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
british journal of educational psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.557
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 2044-8279
pISSN - 0007-0998
DOI - 10.1348/000709909x466082
Subject(s) - worry , psychology , test anxiety , situational ethics , anxiety , developmental psychology , competence (human resources) , test (biology) , academic achievement , social psychology , need for achievement , clinical psychology , paleontology , psychiatry , biology
Background Recent models of evaluation anxiety emphasize the importance of personal knowledge and self‐regulatory processes in the development of test anxiety, but do not theorize a route for situational influences. Aim To investigate the relationship between test anxiety and personal knowledge beliefs (achievement goals and perceived academic competence), parental pressure/support, and teachers' achievement goals. Sample One‐hundred and seventy five students at a sixth‐form college following pre‐degree courses in Psychology and Sociology. Method Self‐report data were collected for test anxiety, personal achievement goals, academic self‐concept, perceived test competence, teachers' achievement goals, and parental pressure/support. Relationships were examined through correlational and regression analyses. Results The relationship between test anxiety and personal knowledge beliefs differed for the various components of test anxiety. A mastery‐avoidance goal was related to worry and tension, and a performance‐approach goal to bodily symptoms. Perceived academic competence was related to worry and tension. Parental pressure was associated with stronger worry and test‐irrelevant thinking components directly, and with a stronger bodily symptoms component indirectly through a performance‐approach goal. Teachers' performance‐avoidance goals were related to worry, tension, and bodily symptoms indirectly through personal performance‐avoidance goals, and in the case of bodily symptoms additionally through a performance‐approach goal. Conclusion Findings provide partial support for the self‐regulatory model of test anxiety suggesting that additional routes are required to account for the role of parental pressure and teachers' performance‐avoidance goals and a re‐examination of the relationship between test anxiety and achievement goals.