Relationship between School Based Stress and Test Anxiety

Abstract

A total of 267 junior and senior high school students (grades 7,8,9,10,11,12; ages 12-19) with relatively moreinformants identifying as females (57.4%) compared to males (42.6%) and more junior high school students(68.3%) than high school students (31.7%), responded to the German Test Anxiety Inventory (TAI-G) (Hoddapp& Benson, 1997) and the School Situation Survey (SSS) (Holmes & Gable,1989). Pearson product momentanalyses yielded significant relationships between most of the TAI-G scales and SSS scales as well as betweenthe scales and sex, age, and grade level. Multiple linear regression analyses significantly identified AcademicStress (p< .001) and Age (p< .05) as predicting Worry; Academic Stress (p< .001), Emotional Stress (p< .001),and Physiological Stress (p< .001) predicting Emotionality; Peer Interaction (p< .01) and Academic Self-Concept(p< .001) predicting Confidence; Academic Self-Concept (p<.001) and Behavioral Stress (p< .05) predictingInterference; and Academic Stress (p< .001), Academic Self Concept (p< .001), Emotional Stress (p< .01),Physiological Stress (p< .01), and Age (p< .01) predicting TA total score; thus supporting the use of theTransactional Model of Stress and Coping as a general framework for understanding TA.