Successive changes of test anxiety in junior high school students: From the viewpoint of psychological stress

The purpose of this study was to investigate the successive changes of test anxiety in junior high school students from the viewpoint of psychological stress process. Scale on stress responses, cognitive appraisals scale, self-efficacy scale and coping scale were administered to 411 junior high school students 6 times : from 2 weeks before to 1 week after a mid-term examination. Subjects also completed the Test Anxiety Scale (TAS) to assess their trait test anxiety. According to the result of ANOVA on session, it was revealed that subjects who appraised the test as more threatening, used more coping, and exhibited higher stress responses before than after the exam. Self-efficacy scores decreased as sessions went by. Moreover, subjects who showed high TAS scores appraised the test as more threatening and important, and exhibited higher stress responses than those who showed low TAS scores. The results of this study suggested that successive change pattern of stress responses, cognitive appraisals, self-efficacy, and coping were important to understand the process of test anxiety in junior high school students.