Anxiety in the Classroom: Only Girls’ Anxiety Is Related to Same-Sex Peers’ Anxiety

Abstract

Many teens report experiencing anxiety in school, which can negatively impact their well-being. Considering that adolescents tend to adopt the same behaviors as their classmates with whom they spend, on average, 923 h every year, the current exploratory study (1) assessed whether an association exists between a student’s state anxiety score and his/her classmates’ average trait anxiety scores and (2) examined whether this association differed between boys and girls, as well as between elementary school and high school students. During two consecutive school years, 1044 Canadian students (59% girls) from six elementary schools (aged 10–12) and seven high schools (aged 15–17) completed the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children. Multilevel analyses revealed a same-sex peer effect of classmates’ anxiety in girls only (β = 0.40, p < 0.001). This effect was similar for elementary and high school girls (β = 0.07, p = 0.27). Interestingly, no association was found for boys, same-sex peers (β = 0.11, p = 0.25), or opposite-sex peers (β = −0.01, p = 1.00). Our results suggest that factors related to sex may reinforce anxiety in school settings. Future studies should confirm these results and explore the mechanisms involved in this sex-specific difference.

The Analysis of Parenting Styles and Language Anxiety based on the Iceberg Metaphor: Focusing on Chinese EFL learners in Four Guangdong Universities

“…In previous classroom research, it was found that female participants' anxiety characteristics are different from that of males (Charbonneau et al, 2023). In looking closely at English classrooms, previous research suggests that females reported more FLCA than male participants (Dewaele & MacIntyre, 2014; Dewaele et al, 2018).…”

“…University is an environment of crucial importance in relation to the learning of university students (Charbonneau et al, 2023). However, students often mention that it is the learning environment, the university itself, one of their leading sources of anxiety (Anniko et al, 2019;Charbonneau et al, 2023;De Anda et al, 2000).…”

“…University is an environment of crucial importance in relation to the learning of university students (Charbonneau et al, 2023). However, students often mention that it is the learning environment, the university itself, one of their leading sources of anxiety (Anniko et al, 2019;Charbonneau et al, 2023;De Anda et al, 2000). The research on the influencing factors of anxiety is helpful in finding effective ways to improve students' academic performance, among which the parent-child relationship is one of the most important factors (Chen, 2018).…”