Beyond individual factors: Contextual factors matter for students' test anxiety

Abstract

This study explored the simultaneous role of selected individual, parental, and school factors in student's test anxiety. In 2019, both members of 339 Canadian parent-child dyads (N = 626; 209 girls, 260 mothers, mostly White, child M_age = 15.2) from 13 schools completed self-report validated scales at two time points (May/June 2019 and October/November 2019). Results from multilevel mixed-effects models revealed that negative stress mindsets, perfectionism, and low autonomous motivation significantly predicted 16 % of students' test anxiety four months later. When parental and school-related factors were also considered, parents' trait anxiety (5 %), school type and school level predicted a small additional proportion of the variance (4 %), contrary to controlled motivation, parental practices, perceived threat in the environment and socioeconomic status. Results did not significantly vary across students' or parents' genders. Findings suggest that some contextual factors play an additional unique role in explaining students' test anxiety beyond individual factors, thus pointing out possible new contextual targets for interventions to reduce test anxiety in students.