Mental health and performance anxiety of D.El.Ed. students: A correlational analysis

Abstract

A descriptive correlational study was initiated to find out the relationship between mental health and performance anxiety of D.El.Ed. students of Kerala. The study further explored the differential influence of demographic factors like gender, residential locale, entry qualification and type of institution on the correlation between mental health and performance anxiety. Data were collected from 316 pre-service elementary school teachers (male = 44; female = 272) by administering the Mental Health Scale for Pre-service Elementary School Teachers and the Performance Anxiety Scale for Pre-service Elementary School Teachers, both developed by the investigators. The Pearson product-moment correlation and Fisher’s z-transformation test were the major statistical techniques used for analysing the data. The results exposed presence of a negative but significant correlation between the total score of mental health and performance anxiety. The different components of mental health were also found to have significant negative correlation with various components of performance anxiety. Demographic factors like gender, residential locale, entry qualification and type of institution have no significant differential influence on the degree of relationship between mental health and performance anxiety of D.El.Ed. students.