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Test Anxiety and Reading Comprehension in Adults with Academic Difficulties

Sylvia, Allison M
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1583853725075996

Abstract Details

2020, MA, University of Cincinnati, Arts and Sciences: Psychology.
The current study examined the influence of test anxiety on reading comprehension in 94 adults (ages 18-34) referred for a comprehensive psychological assessment of their academic difficulties. Three regression-based, serial indirect effects analyses were conducted to assess the direct and indirect effects of test anxiety and its components (i.e., worry test anxiety and emotionality test anxiety) on reading comprehension. Based on existing literature, we hypothesized that test anxiety would have an indirect effect on reading comprehension, through the disruption of processing speed, working memory, fluid reasoning and/or crystallized intelligence. Consistent with this hypothesis, results indicated that greater total test anxiety was significantly associated with lower fluid reasoning, which in turn was associated with lower reading comprehension. Three separate indirect effects analyses, with total test anxiety and test anxiety subscales (i.e., worry and emotionality) entered as antecedents, found the same indirect effect. In other words, all facets of test anxiety exerted an indirect effect on reading comprehension by disrupting fluid reasoning. These findings have several implications. First, in adults with academic difficulties, test anxiety is disruptive to reading comprehension. Second, these findings highlight the important role of fluid reasoning as a link between test anxiety and poor academic performance, which has not been previously reported. Third, these findings suggest that worry and emotionality test anxiety do not exert different effects in our sample, as they tend to in the more general population.
Quintino Mano, Ph.D. (Committee Chair)
Kristen Jastrowski Mano, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Paula Shear, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
58 p.
Clinical Psychology
test anxiety; fluid reasoning; reading comprehension; academic difficulties

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Sylvia, A. M. (2020). Test Anxiety and Reading Comprehension in Adults with Academic Difficulties [Master's thesis, University of Cincinnati]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1583853725075996

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Sylvia, Allison. Test Anxiety and Reading Comprehension in Adults with Academic Difficulties. 2020. University of Cincinnati, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1583853725075996.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Sylvia, Allison. "Test Anxiety and Reading Comprehension in Adults with Academic Difficulties." Master's thesis, University of Cincinnati, 2020. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1583853725075996

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

ucin1583853725075996
577
© 2020, some rights reserved.Creative Commons License Test Anxiety and Reading Comprehension in Adults with Academic Difficulties by Allison M Sylvia is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Based on a work at etd.ohiolink.edu.
This open access ETD is published by University of Cincinnati and OhioLINK.