Cultural and Sexual Differences in Test Anxiety, Trait Anxiety and Arousability

Abstract

Cultural and sexual differences in test anxiety were investigated in samples of high school students in Egypt (N= 277), Brazil (N = 234), and the United States (N = 141). Measures of trait anxiety and trait arousability were also included. Compared to the United States greater test anxiety was found in Egypt on both the worry dimension and the emotionality dimension. Greater test anxiety was also found in Brazil, but only on the emotionality dimension. Compared to both the United States and Brazil, greater trait anxiety and arousability were reported by high school students in Egypt. Finally, in all three cultures females reported greater worry, emotionality, trait anxiety, and arousability than males. A possible explanation for the cultural differences in test anxiety is the important consequences of high school testing in Egypt and Brazil.

Anxiety, Optimism and Academic Achievement among Students of Private Medical and Engineering Colleges: A Comparative Study

“…The findings are convergent with the findings of some of the earlier studies on gender differences in anxiety (Fiore, 2003;Baloglu, 2003;Gierl & Rogers, 1996) and gender differences in optimism (Padhy, Rana, & Das, 2012;Tusaie 2003;Sitz & Poche, 2002). Researchers have indicated that reasons for some of the studies indicating lower anxiety level in males than in females could be due to societal expectations; males may report low anxiety because they do not want to admit their weaknesses and are less likely to be completely honest on reporting anxiety (El-Zahhar, 1991;Zoller & Ben-Chaim, 1990;Silvestri, 1986;Sowa & LaFleur, 1986). The reason for decreasing gender gap on these constructs is probably because social perceptions and societal beliefs regarding gender roles and gender abilities are changing due to which females are becoming emotionally equally competent (Bolzendahl & Myers, 2004).…”

Gender Differences in Scores on Test Anxiety and Academic Achievement among South African University Graduate Students

“…EI-Zahhar (1991) argues that the reason for gender differences in test anxiety may be that male subjects are more defensive compared to females. That is, men may claim to be less anxious in a test-writing situation than may be the case in reality.…”

“…Sielk. 1994,24(4) score higher on anxiety tests than American and other Western students (EI-Zahhar, 1991;Guida & Ludlow, 1989).…”

Family environment, discrepancies between perceived actual and desirable environment, and children's test and trait anxiety

“…Hodge et al, 1997;Zohar, 1998). There are those who argue that test anxiety is a learned condition, and that social and cultural evaluative factors have an important bearing on its development (El-Zahhar & Hocevar, 1991;Hembree, 1988). While such variables as perceptions of teachers (Zeidner et al, 1988a) and classroom climate (Zeidner & Schleyer, 1999) have been investigated, little attention has been paid to the family environment.…”