Dimensions of test anxiety: Relations to ways of coping with pre-exam anxiety and uncertainty

By J. Stöber. 2004

191 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Cumulative evidence has shown that four dimensions can be differentiated in the experience of test anxiety: worry, emotionality, interference, and lack of confidence. To investigate whether these dimensions show specific relationships with ways of coping, a study with 162 students (75 male, 87 female) examined how students cope with anxiety and uncertainty in the run-up to important exams. Coping strategies included task-orientation and preparation, seeking social support, and avoidance. Results showed that overall test anxiety was related to seeking social support. When dimensions of test anxiety were inspected individually while controlling for interdimensional overlap, however, results showed a specific pattern of relationships: (a) worry was related to task-orientation and preparation and inversely related to cognitive avoidance, (b) emotionality was related to task-orientation and preparation and seeking social support, and (c) interference was related to avoidance and inversely related to task-orientation and preparation, whereas (d) lack of confidence was related to avoidance only. Although some gender differences emerged, the findings indicate that the main components of test anxiety display different relationships with coping. Moreover, they confirm that it is important to differentiate between worry and interference because these dimensions, albeit closely related, may show opposite relationships with ways of coping.

Subfields: Experimental and Cognitive Psychology, General Health Professions, Management Science and Operations Research

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/b48215692b8bcf097eeb2f893d3b2b82b9e5511d

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In Experimental and Cognitive Psychology

In General Health Professions

In Management Science and Operations Research

Citations in the corpus

The Correlation among EFL Learners’ Test Anxiety, Foreign Language Anxiety and Language Achievement (2016, unknown): “…1998; Zeidner, 1998; Ferrando, Varea & Lorenzo, 1999; Aysan, Thomson, & Hamarat, 2001; Brown, 2002; Cassady & Johnson, 2002; Altermatt & Kim, 2004; Stober, 2004; Chapell et al., 2005 ; McCarthy & Goffin, 2005; Aydın et al., 2006; Bacanlı & Sürücü, 2006; Lashkaripour, 2006; Mousavi et al., 2008;…”
Social and Dimensional Comparisons in Math and Verbal Test Anxiety: Within- and Cross-domain Relations with Achievement and the Mediating Role of Academic Self-concept☆ (2017, background): “be conceptualized as separate components of domain-unspecific test anxiety (Everson et al., 1991; Stöber, 2004; Zeidner, 2007) and domain-specific test anxiety (Sparfeld et al.”
Investigating the Relationship among Test Anxiety, Gender, Academic Achievement and Years of Study: A Case of Iranian EFL University Students. (2009, background): “…was related to task-orientation and preparation and low avoidance coping in females; (b) emotionality was related to seeking social support in male students and to task-orientation and preparation in female students; and (c) interference was related to avoidance coping in females (Stober, 2004).”
International handbook of emotions in education. (2014, background): “For female students, for example, worrying is associated with preparing more and low avoidance coping, and for both male and female students, the relationship is revered for the interference component (Stöber, 2004).”
The Relationship between Test Anxiety and Academic Achievement (2010, background): “Erbe (2007), Berk & Nanda (2006), Stober (2004), Haris & Coy (2003), Foster, Paulk, & Dastoor (1999), Kondo (1996), and Serok (1991) discussed various measures and strategies which can be applied by faculty members to reduce test anxiety among their students.”