Students deal with a lot of academic stress, especially when appearing for public examinations such as board exams in the Indian context. Students appearing for these exams face increased parental expectations, peer competition, and the pressure to achieve from society. Schools also demand perfect results in these exams, often imposing rigorous academic expectations regardless of the student's abilities. These pressures lead to heightened anxiety during examinations. Considering these factors, the current research focused on studying the influence of academic self-efficacy, trait anxiety, perception of parental expectations, and unfulfillment of parental expectations, social support, and school environment on the test anxiety of adolescents. The present study is an expost facto research design and adopted a two-stage sampling design. Data were collected from 18 schools managed by the Government, Corporation, and Private management. 670 students participated with the age ranging between 14 – 18 years. The results indicate trait anxiety and pressure to achieve are significant risk factors for test anxiety. When students have high trait anxiety and experience higher levels of pressure to achieve academically, they become more susceptible to test anxiety. On a parallel note, peer acceptance and the possibility to participate are protective factors when experienced at higher levels reduce test anxiety. The finding implies that management of test anxiety is a shared responsibility where students and educators have significant roles to play.

Authors:
Nithy Cecil, Christ University, India
Lavanya T, University of Madras, India

About the Presenter(s)
Dr. Nithy Cecil is currently working an Assistant Professor at Christ University, Bangalore, India.

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