A cross-cultural study of the test anxiety levels in Iranian and Indian students

This study compared the test anxiety levels of Iranian (N = 160) and Indian (N = 160) school and college students. Significant main effects of Culture, Educational Level and Sex indicated that the Iranian students had higher Test Anxiety scores than their Indian counterparts, and females reported higher test anxiety than males. A significant Culture x Educational Level x Sex interaction revealed, however, that level of education had opposite effects within the Indian culture: Indian school females reported more test anxiety than their college counterparts; Indian college males had higher test anxiety than their school counterparts. Iranian school males and females both reported higher test anxiety than their college counterparts. Tricultural differences in the test anxiety levels of comparable student groups in Iran, India and the U.S. were interpreted as reflecting East-West cultural factors that influenced reactions to objective examinations, resulting in greater test anxiety in Eastern cultures.