Role of academic self-efficacy in moderating the relation between task importance and test anxiety
Section snippets
Test anxiety
Test anxiety refers to a situation-specific form of anxiety that accompanies concern about possible negative consequences or poor performance on an examination (Spielberger and Vagg, 1995, Zeidner and Matthews, 2005). Recent research has treated test anxiety as a multi-dimensional construct and has generally focused on two major components—worry and emotionality (Bonaccio and Reeve, 2010, Pintrich et al., 1993, Spielberger and Vagg, 1995). Worry refers to negative thought that disrupts
Task importance as an antecedent to test anxiety
In the task value literature, task importance is defined as an individual's perceived importance and usefulness of the task. Task value includes three components, i.e. interest, importance and usefulness (Eccles-Parsons et al., 1983). In recent empirical work, Eccles et al. (Durik et al., 2006, Simpkins et al., 2006) separated interest (the intrinsic component of task value) from importance and usefulness (the extrinsic component of task value). They merged the items for importance and
Self-efficacy as a moderator
One self-belief construct that has been shown to influence test anxiety is self-efficacy, which refers to individuals' beliefs that they have the ability to succeed at a specific task (Bandura, 1997). According to Bandura, self-efficacy constitutes the key factor of human agency and a powerful resource in protecting persons from psychological strains. It also affects how the potential threats are perceived. Bandura postulated the important roles of both threatening events and self-efficacy in
Summary of research hypotheses
Given our focus on how task importance and academic self-efficacy operated together in predicting test anxiety, our hypotheses were framed in terms of model-based regression hypotheses. Specifically, we hypothesized that: (a) task importance would be a positive predictor of test anxiety, controlling for academic self-efficacy and their interaction; (b) academic self-efficacy would be a negative predictor of test anxiety, controlling for task importance and their interaction; and (c) academic
Sampling design and participants
Low statistical power to detect interaction effects, especially in the presence of measurement error, has been an issue of great concern (Aiken and West, 1991, Cohen et al., 2003, McClelland and Judd, 1993, Whisman and McClelland, 2005). Whisman and McClelland (2005) recommended that more than 1000 participants may be necessary for having adequate power to detect interaction with small effect size. Therefore, consideration of sampling design and sample size are especially important in testing
Descriptive statistics and zero-order correlations
Descriptive statistics and zero-order correlations among the variables used in this study are presented in Table 1. As shown in the table, academic self-efficacy was negatively correlated with test anxiety, whereas task importance was not significantly related to test anxiety. The correlation should be interpreted with caution given the possible moderated relations among the variables. Therefore, theory-driven regression analyses were conducted to test the main effects as well as the
Discussion
The main purpose of the present study was to examine how academic self-efficacy beliefs moderate the maladaptive relation between task importance and test anxiety. Specifically, we used multiple regression analysis to test the predictive relations of task importance, academic self-efficacy and their interaction on test anxiety.
Conclusions
Task importance is often regarded as an important motivator of students' learning. This study demonstrates, however, that it may increase students' anxiety levels when their academic self-efficacy is low. Since deemphasizing the importance of academic tasks is not a viable solution, strengthening students' efficacy beliefs may be a more promising approach. On a more general level, our work suggests that in order to understand the complex patterns of relations in students' motivational
Acknowledgements
This research was supported by a grant from the Singapore Ministry of Education. Any opinions findings, and conclusions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not reflect the views of the Singapore Ministry of Education.
References (48)
- et al.
The relationship of mathematics self-efficacy expectations to the selection of science-based college majors
Journal of Vocational Behavior
(1983) - et al.
An investigation of mathematics anxiety among sixth through eighth grade students in Turkey
Learning and Individual Differences
(2010) - et al.
The nature and relative importance of students' perceptions of the sources of test anxiety
Learning and Individual Differences
(2010) - et al.
Little more than personality: Dispositional determinants of test anxiety (the Big Five, core self-evaluations, and self-assessed intelligence)
Learning and Individual Differences
(2008) - et al.
Mathematics anxiety as a function of multidimensional self-regulation and self-efficacy
Contemporary Educational Psychology
(2009) - et al.
Self-regulated learning strategies in relation with statistics anxiety
Learning and Individual Differences
(2011) Universals and specifics of math self-concept, math self-efficacy, and math anxiety across 41 PISA 2003 participating countries
Learning and Individual Differences
(2009)- et al.
Is the relationship between competence beliefs and test anxiety influenced by goal orientation?
Learning and Individual Differences
(2010) - et al.
Developing and piloting a dot-probe measure of attentional bias for test anxiety
Learning and Individual Differences
(2011) Unforgiving Confucian culture: A breeding ground for high academic achievement, test anxiety and self-doubt?
Learning and Individual Differences
(2010)
Achievement goals in a presentation task: Performance expectancy, achievement goals, state anxiety, and task performance
Learning and Individual Differences
Multiple regression: Testing and interpreting interactions
Effects of math self-concept, perceived self-efficacy, and attributions for failure and success on test anxiety
Journal of Educational Psychology
Self-efficacy conception of anxiety
Anxiety, Stress, and Coping
Self-efficacy: The exercise of control
Confirmatory factor analysis for applied research
Alternate ways of assessing model fit
Applied multiple regression/correlation analysis for the behavioral sciences
Effort: The double-edged sword in school achievement
Journal of Educational Psychology
“I knew it cold before the exam”: A test of the anxiety-blockage hypothesis
Journal of Educational Psychology
Test anxiety: Causes and effects over time
Task values and ability beliefs as predictors of high school literacy choices: A developmental analysis
Journal of Educational Psychology
Expectancies, values, and academic behaviors
Attention and arousal: Cognition and performance
Cited by (0)
- 1
Both authors contributed equally to this paper.