“I must make the grade!”: the role of cognitive appraisals, irrational beliefs, exam anxiety, and affect, in the academic self-concept of undergraduate students

Figures & data

Table 1. Cronbach’s α and ω for 28-item version and 23-item version of the IPBI subscales for the Preliminary Study, and at wave 1 and wave 2 for Study 2.

	Preliminary study				Study 2
	28-item		23-item		Wave 1		Wave 2
	α	ω	α	Ω	α	ω	α	ω
PIB	.81	.81	.73	.73	.69	.70	.67	.69
FI	.87	.87	.88	.88	.80	.81	.83	.83
AWF	.84	.84	.84	.84	.87	.87	.81	.81
DEP	.90	.90	.90	.90	.90	.90	.88	.88
Total	.93	.92	.92	.91	.91	.91	.91	.90

Table 2. Bivariate Pearson’s correlation coefficients for irrational beliefs, cognitive appraisal, exam anxiety, affect, and academic self-concept in study 1.

	2.	3.	4.	5.	6.	7.	8.
1. IBs	.01	−.26**	−.06	−.16**	.31**	−.24**	−.13*
2. GR	–	.01	.10	.12*	.04	.10	.16**
3. RGC		–	.16**	.22**	−.31**	.36**	.17**
4. PFC			–	.51**	−.12*	.15**	.09
5. EFC				–	−.28**	.35**	.20**
6. Anxiety					–	−.56**	−.32**
7. Affect						–	.42**
8. ASC							–

Notes: IBs, total irrational beliefs; GR, goal relevance; RGC, relative goal congruence; PFC, problem focussed coping; EFC, emotion focussed coping; ASC, academic self-concept.

*p < .05.

**p < .001.

Table 3. Study 2 bivariate Pearson’s correlation coefficients for irrational beliefs, cognitive appraisal, challenge and threat, exam anxiety, affect, and academic self-concept at waves 1 (upper section) and 2 (lower section).

	1.	2.	3.	4.	5.	6.	7.	8.	9.	10.
1. IBs	–	.15**	−.23**	−.10*	−.24**	−.20	.56**	.47**	−.29**	.02
2. GR	.06	–	.02	.11*	.06	.27**	.12**	.05	.09	.04
3. RGC	−.13**	.16**	–	.36**	.30**	.34**	−.26**	−.37**	.42**	.15**
4. PFC	−.10*	.18**	.28**	–	.51**	.31**	−.15**	−.27**	.31**	.11*
5. EFC	−.14**	.09*	.17**	.52**	–	.35**	−.32**	−.43**	.38**	.09
6. Challenge	−.02	.24**	.25**	.27**	.37**	–	−.23**	−.26**	.44**	.12**
7. Threat	.45**	.12**	−.18**	−.19**	−.32**	−.15**	–	.57**	−.41**	−.03
8. Anxiety	.45**	.08	−.26**	−.26**	−.34**	−.21**	.58**	–	−.57**	−.10*
9. Affect	−.21**	.23**	.31**	.31**	.33**	.41**	−.32**	−.45**	–	−.02
10. ASC	−.01	.13**	.28**	.28**	.27**	.33**	−.14**	−.15**	.30**	–

Notes: IBs, total irrational beliefs; GR, goal relevance; RGC, relative goal congruence; PFC, problem focussed coping; EFC, emotion focussed coping; ASC, academic self-concept.

*p < .05.

**p < .001.

Table 4. Study 2 bivariate Pearson’s correlation coefficients for irrational beliefs, cognitive appraisal, challenge and threat, exam anxiety, affect, and academic self-concept between waves 1 and 2.

	Wave 2
		1.	2.	3.	4.	5.	6.	7.	8.	9.	10.
Wave 1	1. IBs	.72**	.04	–.05	–.08	–.10*	.02	.21**	.21**	–.13**	.02
	2. GR	.07	.21**	.06	–.01	.04	.12**	–.02	–.01	.12**	.10*
	3. RGC	–.19**	.04	.08	.10*	.05	.15**	–.13**	–.15**	.18**	.10*
	4. PFC	–.15**	.03	–.03	.10*	.07	.07	–.16**	–.20**	.17**	.14**
	5. EFC	–.22**	.03	.02	.13**	.19**	.14*	–.19**	–.20**	.23**	.15**
	6. Challenge	–.08	.10	–.08	–.11**	–.14**	.36**	–.15**	–.17**	.25**	.21**
	7. Threat	.49**	.11*	.14**	.14**	.11*	–.11*	.43**	.27**	–.19**	–.05
	8. Anxiety	.39**	–.01	–.13**	–.12**	–.16**	–.12**	.34**	.37**	–.28**	–.12**
	9. Affect	–.27**	.10*	.09*	.12**	.10*	.19**	–.18**	–.19**	.34**	.10*
	10. ASC	.01	.04	.06	.17**	.16**	.15**	–.08	–.09*	.17**	.40**

Notes: IBs, total irrational beliefs; GR, goal relevance; RGC, relative goal congruence; PFC, problem focussed coping; EFC, emotion focussed coping; ASC, academic self-concept.

*p < .05.

**p < .001.

Figure 1. Path model for residualized scores from wave 1 to wave 2 (IBs, total irrational beliefs; GR, goal relevance; RGC, relative goal congruence; PFC, problem focussed coping; EFC, emotion focussed coping; ASC, academic self-concept). Only significant (**p < .01, *p < .05) paths are shown. Dotted line indicates negative relationship.