Mental well-being and test anxiety among students preparing for the university admission exam during the pandemic

Abstract

ObjectiveThe present study attempted to explore any potential association between test anxiety and mental well-being among high school students preparing for the university admission exam in times of the pandemic.MethodsThe sample of this correlational study consisted of 427 senior high school students in Caycuma district of Zonguldak, Turkey. The data were collected online using a demographic information form, the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale, and the Westside Test Anxiety Scale between April–May 2021.ResultsOur findings revealed student gender, paternal education, availability of a personal room and computer, and motivation for online classes to be factors associated with test anxiety. Besides, we discovered parental age, maternal education and employment, the device used for online classes, perceived effectiveness of distance education, and motivation for online classes to be linked with mental well-being among students.ConclusionIn a nutshell, several factors were discovered to contribute to test anxiety, including student gender, paternal education, availability of a personal room and computer, and motivation for online classes. The findings also suggested some noteworthy factors influencing students’ mental well-being, such as parental age, maternal education and employment, the device used for online classes, perceived effectiveness of distance education, and motivation for online classes. Finally, we uncovered a significant negative association between the participating students’ test anxiety and mental well-being.

Test Anxiety Among Secondary School Students and University Students

“…Cronbach's alpha ranged between 0.80-0.90 in different studies (Dami et al, 2019;Maswood et al, 2019;Talwar et al, 2019), even 0.91 (Yatkin et al, 2023). In Bulgaria, its Cronbach's alpha is .834, and its Guttman split-half reliability coefficient is 0.880 (Relojo-Howell & Stoyanova, 2019).…”

“…It is a selfreport 10-item scale that measures students' test anxiety because of events before, during, and after an exam on a five-point Likert scale (Dami et al, 2019;Maswood et al, 2019;Pagaria, 2020;Talwar et al, 2019). There is not any reverse-coded item on WTAS (Yatkin et al, 2023). After summing up the scores on each item, the total score is divided by the number of all items in WTAS and then distributed into six categories with different degrees of test anxiety from low to extremely high test anxiety (Baig et al, 2018;Desai et al, 2021;Driscoll, 2007;Larson et al, 2010;Talwar et al, 2019).…”

“…After summing up the scores on each item, the total score is divided by the number of all items in WTAS and then distributed into six categories with different degrees of test anxiety from low to extremely high test anxiety (Baig et al, 2018;Desai et al, 2021;Driscoll, 2007;Larson et al, 2010;Talwar et al, 2019). A higher score on WTAS means a higher test anxiety level (Yatkin et al, 2023).…”

“…The scientific studies usually report that test anxiety is higher in female students compared to male students (Baghaei & Cassady, 2014;Baig et al, 2018;Balogun & Olanrewaju, 2016;Barik & Barman, 2019;Cassady & Johnson, 2002;Pagaria, 2020;Pitta, 2021;Yatkin et al, 2023) in different educational degrees.…”