Attachment And Test Anxiety Among Junior Three Students:The Mediating Effect And Intervention Study Of Intolerance Of Uncertainty And Self-compassion

Test anxiety is a common psychological problem among students.While balancing ordinary high school and vocational education,the reform of the high school entrance examination has endowed the high school entrance examination with a new role of "split-stream examination".The pressure and uncertainty brought by the split-stream examination may aggravate the level of exam anxiety of middle school students,especially junior three students.Existing studies on test anxiety mostly focus on individual traits,and few studies take relationship as the starting point.While middle school students are in a critical period when attachment relationship extends from the separation of family of origin,existing studies have found that individuals with secure attachment are more tolerant and easy to use positive strategies to cope with life pressure.Therefore,this study attempts to look at the relationship between test anxiety and self-compassion(supportive factor)and intolerance of uncertainty(threatening factor),and explore their possible mediating effects.This study consists of two sub-studies.In the first study,a questionnaire survey was used to investigate students in grade 3 of an incomplete middle school in a county-level city of Jiangxi Province,and 329 valid questionnaires were collected.In Study 2,30 students who participated in Study 1were recruited and randomly divided into the intervention group and the control group.The participants in the intervention group carried out self-compassion group counseling for five consecutive weeks,while the control group did not do any treatment.After the intervention,the effect of intervention was determined by the comparison before and after the intervention.The results show that:(1)Junior three students in this school were at average level in attachment anxiety/attachment avoidance,self-compassion,intolerability of uncertainty and test anxiety.There were significant differences in attachment avoidance and self-compassion in gender,family type,grade ranking and guardian,while there were significant differences in test anxiety in gender and grade ranking.(2)Test anxiety is positively correlated with attachment anxiety/attachment avoidance,negatively correlated with self-compassion level,and positively correlated with intolerance of uncertainty level(r=0.39,0.33,0.52,0.55;P<0.01).There is an intermediary chain between attachment anxiety/attachment avoidance and test anxiety: "self-pity → intolerate uncertainty".The relationship between attachment anxiety/attachment avoidance and test anxiety was mediated by self-compassion,and the effect sizes were 43% and 62% respectively;the relationship between intolerance of uncertainty and test anxiety was mediated by self-compassion,the effect sizes were42%,but not between attachment avoidance and test anxiety.(3)Self-compassion group intervention can effectively improve the self-criticism and self-isolation dimensions of self-compassion(t=-5.778,-5.037;P<0.001),and significantly reduce the level of intolerance of uncertainty and test anxiety(t=4.903,4.006;P<0.001),but has no significant effect on attachment anxiety/attachment avoidance(t=0.702,1.236;P>0.05).From the perspective of relationship,this study found the influence of individual attachment on their test anxiety and the possible mechanism of action.It also proposed the idea of relieving test anxiety by means of self-compassionate group counseling and proved its effectiveness,which provided practical ideas and empirical support for promoting students’ mental health growth and mental health work in middle school.