Examining the psychometric properties of the FRIEDBEN Test Anxiety Scale using exploratory structural equation modeling

Abstract

Test anxiety has been identified as a substantial barrier to student success at all educational levels. Given the ubiquitous presence of test anxiety, there have been many attempts to provide readily available measures of test anxiety to help identify learners at-risk for adverse academic outcomes. The purpose of the current study was to test the structural validity of the FRIEDBEN Test Anxiety Scale within a university population (N = 577; extending beyond the traditional adolescent population). Using exploratory structural equation modeling techniques, we determined that a five-factor solution, including Cognitive Obstruction, Tenseness, Social Derogation–Instructor Focused, Social Derogation–General, and Test Confidence, demonstrated a superior fit to the observed data compared to alternative factorial representations. Our results highlight the benefit of increased attention to the agents of attention in socially focused concerns that are believed to contribute to the experience of test anxiety. Further, our results add to the growing body of literature demonstrating that “reverse-coded” items on test anxiety instruments often are measuring a distinct factor related to perceptions of competence (i.e., test confidence).