Relationships of intelligence, academic achievement, and emotional symptoms with debilitating and facilitating test anxiety among elementary school students

This study investigated the joint contributions of emotional, academic, and cognitive variables on test anxiety levels utilizing a multimethod approach. Test anxiety is associated with diminished cognitive, academic, social, and emotional functioning and has pervasive effects among students. Empirical research has not yet evaluated factors that collectively predict debilitating and facilitating test anxiety levels, though an abundance of empirical literature supports the associations between test anxiety and an array of variables.; Hierarchical regression analyses examined emotional stability, intelligence, academic skills, gender, and socio-economic status as predictors of test anxiety levels. Participants consisted of 116 fourth grade students (55% female) from four schools across the Midwest. Instruments utilized to conduct the regression analyses included an emotional stability scale from a broad measure of behavior and personality, the Behavior Assessment System for Children - 2, Self-Report Child Form (BASC-2; Reynolds & Kamphaus, 2004); a screening measure of intellectual functioning, the Reynolds Intellectual Screening Test (RIST; Reynolds & Kamphaus, 2003); and results from school-based measures of academic skills.; After controlling for the effects of socio-economic status and gender, these variables collectively accounted for 34% of the variance in the Test Anxiety Inventory for Children and Adolescents (TAICA; Lee, Lowe, & DeRuyck, 2004) debilitating test anxiety score (p ≤ .001). Specifically, students who reported fewer symptoms of internalizing disorders and who performed better on measures of academic and cognitive functioning were likely to experience less debilitating test anxiety than those students with more symptoms of internalizing disorders and poorer academic and cognitive functioning. Additionally, the emotional stability variable uniquely contributed to the prediction of debilitating test anxiety. These same variables did not significantly predict facilitating test anxiety.; Results suggest that emotional, academic, and cognitive variables jointly predicted test anxiety that impedes performance and emotional stability also uniquely predicted debilitating test anxiety. Parents, educators, and mental health professionals could promote emotional stability and target the amalgam of variables associated with test anxiety through prevention and intervention programs. School psychologists are well qualified to tackle this concern considering their unique training and positions of leadership within school systems. Implications, study limitations, and future research directions are discussed.