Test anxiety,self-evaluative worry,and sleep disturbance in college students

Abstract

The present research examined the extent to which sleep disturbance is involved in the experience of test anxiety. In Study 1, a sample of 80 subjects completed a trait measure of test anxiety and completed a sleep inventory with reference to the past 30 days. In Study 2, a sample of 188 subjects provided measures of trait and state test anxiety and completed a sleep inventory for the night preceding an actual test. The results of Study 1 and Study 2 confirmed that test anxiety is associated with self-reported sleep disturbance. In addition, the results of Study 2 showed that sleep disturbance is also associated with increased state test anxiety. Finally, it was found in Study 2 that sleep disturbance was not related to actual test performance. However, poorer test performance was associated with increased state and trait test anxiety. It is concluded that certain characteristics associated with test anxiety are stable and may be detected in evaluative and non-evaluative situations. The results are discussed with particular reference to their implications for the test anxiety construct itself as well as treatment strategies for the test-anxious student.     

Validation of the Social Appearance Anxiety Scale: factor, convergent, and divergent validity

The Social Appearance Anxiety Scale (SAAS) was created to assess fear of overall appearance evaluation. Initial psychometric work indicated that the measure had a single-factor structure and exhibited excellent internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and convergent validity. In the current study, the authors further examined the factor, convergent, and divergent validity of the SAAS in two samples of undergraduates. In Study 1 (N = 323), the authors tested the factor structure, convergent, and divergent validity of the SAAS with measures of the Big Five personality traits, negative affect, fear of negative evaluation, and social interaction anxiety. In Study 2 (N = 118), participants completed a body evaluation that included measurements of height, weight, and body fat content. The SAAS exhibited excellent convergent and divergent validity with self-report measures (i.e., self-esteem, trait anxiety, ethnic identity, and sympathy), predicted state anxiety experienced during the body evaluation, and predicted body fat content. In both studies, results confirmed a single-factor structure as the best fit to the data. These results lend additional support for the use of the SAAS as a valid measure of social appearance anxiety.     

Modelling relationships between cognitive variables during and following public speaking in participants with social phobia

Cognitive models of social phobia predict that several cognitive processes will mediate the relationship between trait levels of social anxiety and the extent of anxiety experienced in a specific social-evaluative situation. The current study aimed to provide a test of these relationships. Over 200 clinical participants with social phobia completed measures of their general social anxiety and a week later performed a brief impromptu speech. They completed a measure of state anxiety in response to the speech as well as questionnaires assessing several cognitive constructs including focus of perceived attention, perceived performance, and probability and cost of negative evaluation. A week later, they completed measures of negative rumination experienced over the week, as well as a measure of the recollection of their perceived performance. Path analysis provided support for a model in which the cognitive factors mediated between general social anxiety and the degree of anxiety experienced in response to the speech. A second model supported the theory that negative rumination mediated between characteristic social anxiety and negative bias in the recollection of performance.     

Spontaneous eye blinks during creative task correlate with divergent processing

Creativity consists of divergent and convergent thinking, with both related to individual eye blinks at rest. To assess underlying mechanisms between eye blinks and traditional creativity tasks, we investigated the relationship between creativity performance and eye blinks at rest and during tasks. Participants performed an alternative uses and remote association task while eye blinks were recorded. Results showed that the relationship between eye blinks at rest and creativity performance was compatible with those of previous research. Interestingly, we found that the generation of ideas increased as a function of eye blink number during the alternative uses task. On the other hand, during the remote association task, accuracy was independent of eye blink number during the task, but response time increased with it. Moreover, eye blink changes in participants who responded quickly during the remote association task were different depending on their resting state eye blinks; that is, participants with many eye blinks during rest showed little increasing eye blinks and achieved solutions quickly. Positive correlations between eye blinks during creative tasks and yielding ideas on the alternative uses task and response time on the remote association task suggest that eye blinks during creativity tasks relate to divergent thinking processes such as conceptual reorganization.     

Moderating Effects of Mathematics Anxiety on the Effectiveness of Explicit Timing

Explicit timing is an empirically validated intervention to increase problem completion rates by exposing individuals to a stopwatch and explicitly telling them of the time limit for the assignment. Though explicit timing has proven to be effective for groups of students, some students may not respond well to explicit timing based on factors such as mathematics anxiety. The present study examined the effects of explicit timing on mathematics performance for 81 fourth and fifth graders with differing levels of mathematics anxiety. Students completed more digits correct during explicit timing as compared to baseline and control. Additionally, results indicated there was a significant linear relationship between mathematics anxiety and mathematics performance. Students with low and medium mathematics anxiety completed more digits correct with higher accuracy than students with high mathematics anxiety. Lastly, digits correct and accuracy remained consistent during baseline, control, and explicit timing when condition and anxiety level were both considered. Educational professionals must be cognizant not only of academic variables impacting students learning, but also mental health variables, such as mathematics anxiety, in order to provide a comprehensive treatment package capable of ameliorating academic difficulties.     

A consciousness-sampling analysis of test anxiety and performance

In order to evaluate cognitive-interference, reassertion, and reaction-to-performance models of test anxiety, 82 students completed the Test Anxiety Scale, provided state measures of anxiety just before and after a course examination, described their preparation for the test, and reported thought content and state anxiety up to six times during the test. Test Anxiety Scale scores were predictive of pre- and posttest state anxiety but not performance or problem-solving thought frequency during the test. Thought content was significantly but weakly correlated with performance, which was well correlated with posttest state anxiety but not with pretest anxiety. Pretest state anxiety was virtually uncorrelated with posttest state anxiety, with the correlations gradually declining during the test. Question-answering thought content correlated inversely with anxiety during the test. There was no group for whom anxiety appeared to facilitate performance. Preparation correlated only with performance. The pattern of results appears inconsistent with a cognitive-interference interpretation of test anxiety and suggests that in the naturalistic setting used, anxiety is more clearly an effect than a cause of poor performance.     

Person-oriented profiles of originality and fluency in divergent thinking responses

Researchers often use divergent thinking tasks to assess creative potential and find a positive inter-individual relation between fluency and originality. But are there different within-person patterns of originality and fluency? Study 1: undergraduates completed an alternate uses task and the NEO-FFI. Three profiles emerged: (1) low originality and fluency; (2) above average originality, moderate fluency; and (3) average originality, high fluency. Study 2: high school students completed a divergent thinking task and 10 facets of the IPIP NEO-PI. Four profiles emerged: (1) average originality, moderate fluency; (2) above average originality, high fluency; (3) low originality and fluency; and (4) high originality, low fluency. Profile differences in personality and maximum originality, and implications of these findings are discussed.     

The effect of performance setting and individual differences on the anxiety-performance relationship for elite cyclists

Fifty-three national level cyclists completed competitive rides under both laboratory and field conditions to investigate the relationship between pre-competition anxiety and performance. A total of 39 males and 14 females participated in the study, ranging in age from 19 to 26. The objectives of the study were to, (a) measure the relationship between state anxiety and performance, (b) investigate differences in the anxiety-performance relationship under laboratory versus field conditions, and (c) examine the effect of trait anxiety on the state anxiety-performance relationship. State anxiety was measured using the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 (CSAI-2; Martens, Vealey, & Burton, 1990), and trait anxiety with the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI; Spielberger, Gorsuch, & Lushene, 1970). Results indicated that anxiety was strongly correlated with performance on the field test, but that the anxiety-performance relationship was weaker under laboratory conditions. Results also showed that trait anxiety interacted with the relationship, as low and high trait-anxious subjects had differential response patterns to pre-competition anxiety. The findings are discussed in terms of their relevance for both practitioners and researchers.     

Effect of anxiety reduction on children's school performance and social adjustment

This study tested the effect of reductions in children's anxiety over time on improvements in school performance and social functioning in the context of participation in a cognitive-behavioral intervention program. Participants included 40 children with high anxiety (6-13 years of age). Independent evaluators, children, and parents rated child anxiety; parents rated school performance; and children and parents rated social functioning. Measures were completed at preintervention, midintervention, and postintervention. Fixed-effects regression analyses and random-effects regression analyses indicated that decreased anxiety was predictive of improved school performance and social functioning over the course of the intervention. These findings suggest that changes in anxiety influence trajectories of children's scholastic and social functioning.     

Generalisation of the Clark and Wells cognitive model of social anxiety to children's athletic and sporting situations

Research has shown that social anxiety generalises to sporting and athletic situations. The present study explored the applicability of the Clark and Wells model of social anxiety – and its metacognitive extension – to sport anxiety. Participants were 290 students aged 11–13 years, who completed measures of sport anxiety, social anxiety, depression and cognitive variables implicated by the model. Hierarchical regression analysis indicated that performance attitudes, performance cognitions, anticipatory and post-event processing were predictive of sport anxiety, after controlling for social anxiety and depression. In addition, the association between performance attitudes and sport anxiety was stronger at higher levels of anticipatory and post-event processing. These results suggest that the Clark and Wells cognitive model – and its metacognitive extension – is applicable to children with sport anxiety.     

Cognitive and somatic anxiety and self-confidence in athletic performance of beach volleyball

This study considered the influence of competitive anxiety and self-confidence state responses upon athletic performance. 66 male beach volleyball players completed the translated and modified Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 which included the original intensity scale and a direction scale of Jones and Swain. Players' performance was scored from the video records using a standard rating scales. Correlations indicated scores on Direction subscale of modified Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 and Self-confidence were moderately positively (r=.27 to .51) correlated with different skill components and sum of skill components of beach volleyball. Stepwise multiple regressions indicated that, as anticipated, directional perceptions of cognitive and somatic anxiety and self-confidence were significant predictors of beach volleyball performance but accounted for only 42% of variance. Original Intensity subscales of somatic and cognitive anxiety did not predict performance. Findings support the notion that direction of anxiety responses must be taken into consideration when examining anxiety-performance association in sport.     

Effects of test anxiety, tests, and sleep on children''s performance

This study examined the interrelationship between children's test anxiety, sleep, and performance. The subjects, 239 sixth and seventh graders, responded to questionnaires examining sleep behavior and test anxiety on a day when they had a major exam in school, and on a day when they did not. They also completed a vigilance task on both days. The results showed that partial sleep loss (i.e., under 3 hr) did not adversely influence subjects' performance on the vigilance task or on the actual class exam. However, the results did reveal that test anxiety was negatively related to performance on the class exam.     

Perfectionism: A contributor to social anxiety and its cognitive processes

The present study aimed to examine how perfectionism is contributing to social anxiety and its cognitive processes of post‐event rumination and self‐perception of performance following a speech task. Forty‐eight undergraduate students completed measures of perfectionism and trait social anxiety prior to performing a 3‐min impromptu speech task. Immediately following the speech task, participants rated their state anxiety and self‐perception of performance, and 24 hr later, their level of post‐event rumination was measured. Structural equation modelling revealed that perfectionism, in the form of socially prescribed perfectionism and doubts about actions, directly influences trait social anxiety, and indirectly influences post‐event rumination and self‐perception of performance through its relationship with trait social anxiety and state anxiety. This is the first study to investigate how perfectionism is contributing to social anxiety and its cognitive processes. The findings of this study provide evidence in support of the potential predictive role of perfectionism in social anxiety.     

Effect of response distortion on the assessment of divergent facets of psychopathy

Recent evidence suggests that the Psychopathic Personality Inventory (PPI) is composed of two orthogonal factors, one representing traits such as dominance and low anxiety (PPI-I) and a second that reflects more socially deviant aspects of psychopathy (PPI-II). To assess whether response sets differentially affect these factors, the present research reanalyzed data from two dissimulation studies in which college students completed the PPI both honestly and with instructions either to "fake good" (n = 186) or "fake bad" (n = 143). PPI-II scores decreased significantly in the fake-good condition (d = -.86) and increased significantly when faking bad (d = 2.65). PPI-I scores were unaffected by attempts to feign serious psychopathology (d = .10) and actually increased in the fake-good condition (d = .53). These findings significantly qualify previous conclusions about the effect of response distortion on the PPI.     

Performance perceptions and self-focused attention predict post-event processing after a real-life social performance situation

Background and Objectives: Cognitive approaches to social anxiety suggest that an excessive brooding about one's performance in a social situation (post-event processing; PEP) is involved in the maintenance of anxiety. To date, most studies investigating PEP were conducted in laboratory settings. The present study sought to replicate previous findings on predictors of PEP after a naturalistic social performance situation. Methods: Sixty-five students, who had to give an evaluated presentation for credits, completed measures of trait social anxiety. Immediately after their presentation, participants rated state anxiety and attentional focus during the presentation, and provided an overall evaluation of their performance. One week after the presentation, they rated PEP during the preceding week, and reappraised their performance. Results: Regression analyses demonstrated that the performance ratings after and self-focused attention during the presentation were unique predictors of PEP over and above the effects of trait and state anxiety. There was no evidence that PEP was associated with a biased recall of individual performance evaluations. Conclusions: The results support cognitive theories that emphasize the importance of negative self-perceptions in the development of social anxiety and related processes, and underline self-focused attention and self-evaluative processes as important targets during treatment.     

Validating self-report measures of state and trait anxiety against a physiological measure

While anxiety research frequently uses only self-report measures to assess dimensions of state and trait anxiety, the present study sought to corroborate these self-report measures using a physiological measure, namely heart rate. Another aim of the present study was to test the multidimensional interaction model of anxiety in a social evalua-tion situation (i.e., a seminar presentation), using a physiological measure of state anxiety. Graduate psychology students completed a state anxiety questionnaire and were attached to a heart rate recorder prior to a class seminar presentation. One week later, students completed trait and state anxiety questionnaires and were again at-tached to a heart rate recorder prior to seminar observation by others. Heart rate was elevated during seminar presentation relative to seminar observation, reached maxi-mum values during the first 15 minutes of seminar presentation and then decreased over time. State anxiety scores indicate that participants were experiencing consider-ably more anxiety just before presenting the seminar than just before observing a seminar. Heart rate during seminar presentation was significantly correlated with self-report state anxiety and self-report social evaluation trait anxiety, but not with seminar grade. Support was found for the multidimensional interaction model of anxiety using the physiological measure (i.e., heart rate). A modified version of this paper was presented at the 101^st Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association. This research was supported, in part, by Grant No. 410-94-1473 from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) to the second author. The authors wish to thank the Defence and Civil Institute of Environmental Medicine for providing the Medilog recorders. Reprint requests should be sent to Norman S. Endler at the address above.     

Assessing tactile perception: effects of different visual barriers on performance

Blindfolding candidates when testing their tactile performance may increase their anxiety. This study examined whether different visual barriers would influence tactile performance on timed tasks. It was hypothesised that candidates using a blindfold would be more anxious, but that they would benefit by the potentially positive effects of arousal on performance and not differ from candidates using a screen to limit visual access to task material. 200 participants (ages 19 to 30 years), randomly assigned to the two conditions, completed a tactile perception task, as well as an anxiety scale. In contrast to the expected outcome, the screen sample took significantly longer to complete the task. This was hypothesised to be the result of increased distraction given competing cross-modal attentional demands and the consequent visual and tactile attention switching. Practitioners may need to consider the influences of visual interference when assessing tactile performance.     

Validating self-report measures of state and trait anxiety against a physiological measure

While anxiety research frequently uses only self-report measures to assess dimensions of state and trait anxiety, the present study sought to corroborate these self-report measures using a physiological measure, namely heart rate. Another aim of the present study was to test the multidimensional interaction model of anxiety in a social evalua-tion situation (i.e., a seminar presentation), using a physiological measure of state anxiety. Graduate psychology students completed a state anxiety questionnaire and were attached to a heart rate recorder prior to a class seminar presentation. One week later, students completed trait and state anxiety questionnaires and were again at-tached to a heart rate recorder prior to seminar observation by others. Heart rate was elevated during seminar presentation relative to seminar observation, reached maxi-mum values during the first 15 minutes of seminar presentation and then decreased over time. State anxiety scores indicate that participants were experiencing consider-ably more anxiety just before presenting the seminar than just before observing a seminar. Heart rate during seminar presentation was significantly correlated with self-report state anxiety and self-report social evaluation trait anxiety, but not with seminar grade. Support was found for the multidimensional interaction model of anxiety using the physiological measure (i.e., heart rate). A modified version of this paper was presented at the 101^st Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association. This research was supported, in part, by Grant No. 410-94-1473 from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) to the second author. The authors wish to thank the Defence and Civil Institute of Environmental Medicine for providing the Medilog recorders. Reprint requests should be sent to Norman S. Endler at the address above.     

Attachment theory and group processes: the association between attachment style and group-related representations,goals, memories,and functioning

Four studies examined attachment-style differences in group-related cognitions and behaviors. In Studies 1-2, participants completed scales on group-related cognitions and emotions. In Studies 3-4, participants were divided into small groups, and their performance in group tasks as well as the cohesion of their group were assessed. Both attachment anxiety and avoidance in close relationships were associated with negative group-related cognitions and emotions. Anxiety was also related to the pursuit of closeness goals and impaired instrumental performance in group tasks. Avoidance was related to the pursuit of distance goals and deficits in socioemotional and instrumental performance. Group cohesion significantly moderated the effects of attachment anxiety. The discussion emphasizes the relevance of attachment theory within group contexts.