The temporal patterns of worry and emotionality and their differential effects on test performance

Abstract

Spielberger's Trait-State anxiety distinction and Liebert&Morris's Worry-Emotionality distinction were employed to examine the differential effects of worry and emotionality on test performance and the temporal patterns of these components of anxiety. The roles of performance expectancy and item difficulty were also examined. Eighty-eight college students (79 females and 9 males) were randomly assigned to three different item difficulty groups (hard, moderate, or easy) at the initial stage of the study. All subjects completed a Test Anxiety Inventory three weeks before the final exam and a Performance Expectancy Questionnaire and three Worry-Emotionality Questionnaires during their final exam. The results demonstrated the differential roles of worry and emotionality on test performance in terms of the associated patterns of their state forms with the other independent variables (performance expectancy and item difficutly), although their distinctiveness was attenuated in their trait forms.

Key Words:

• Test anxiety
• trait and state
• worry and emotionality
• performance expectancy
• item difficulty
• temporal patterns