Measurement of test anxiety among selected black adolescents: Appropriateness of four anxiety scales

In an effort to determine the appropriateness of three already available anxiety measures and one newly developed measure for use with low-achieving minority- group adolescents, this study explored the reliability and validity for four self- report anxiety scales. The Test Anxiety Scale for Children (TASC), the Alpert-Haber Achievement Anxiety Scale for Children (AASC), the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children (STAIC), and a newly developed Reading Anxiety Scale (RAS), in which was embedded the Lie Scale for Children (LSC), were administered to 60 seventh- grade black students. Internal consistency reliability estimates are moderate to moderately high. Significant intercorrelations (p<.05) were found among the scales except for the A-State (state anxiety) subscale of the STAIC, which correlated significantly only with the RAS. No scale was found to be redundant with any other scale. The scales differentiated anxiety levels but did not operate differentially on the basis of gender. Conclusions are drawn regarding the appropriateness of using these scales with some minority-group adolescents.