Relationships between test anxiety, self-regulation and strategies for coping with stress, in professional examination candidates

Abstract

El objetivo de la investigación fue establecer relaciones de asociación, interdependencia y predicción estructural entre las variables ansiedad evaluativa, authorregulación y estrategias de afrontamiento del estrés. El marco teórico de referencia fue el modelo de la competencia de Studying, Learning, and Performing under Stress (SLPS). Participaron 142 estudiantes, que se estaban preparando en academias de Almería (España) para obtener plaza como maestros en centros públicos. Para la recogida de datos se administraron cuestionarios escritos previamente validados. El diseño fue ex post-facto lineal, con análisis de asociación bivariada, inferenciales (ANOVAs y MANOVAs) y de predicción estructural. Los resultados mostraron una relación negativa entre la ansiedad evaluativa y la autorregulación, especialmente en los estudiantes con alta emocionalidad, con un impacto negativo para la toma de decisiones. También se encontraron relaciones positivas entre la ansiedad evaluativa y las estrategias de afrontamiento del estrés. Por último, se constató la relación de predicción positiva entre la autorregulación y las estrategias de afrontamiento, a la vez que los análisis asociativos e inferenciales destacaron el papel de las metas como determinantes de las estrategias usadas para afrontar el estrés, especialmente, las referidas a la focalización en la resolución de problemas. Se discuten los resultados y se establecen implicaciones para las mejoras de estos procesos en los estudiantes opositores. The research objective was to establish relationships of association, interdependence and structural prediction between the variables of test anxiety, self-regulation and stress coping strategies. The theoretical framework of reference was the Studying, Learning and Performing under Stress (SLPS) Competency Model. Participating were 142 students who were preparing for professional examinations to attain a post as public school teacher (primary education), enrolled at academies in Almería (Spain) for this purpose. Previously validated questionnaires were administered for data collection. The study design was linear ex post-facto, with bivariate, inferential analyses of association (ANOVAs and MANOVAs) and of structural prediction. Results showed a negative relationship between test anxiety self-regulation, especially in students with high emotionality, and a negative impact on decision making. Positive relationships were found between test anxiety and strategies for coping with stress. Finally, a positive predictive relationship was verified between self-regulation and coping strategies, while associative and inferential analyses highlighted the role of goals as determining factors in strategies used for coping with stress, especially strategies that focus on problem solving. Results are discussed and implications for improving these processes in professional examination candidates are established.

Self- vs. External-Regulation Behavior ScaleTM in different psychological contexts: A validation study

“…In the field of clinical research, the self-regulation variable has appeared to be important for the explanation of other psychological constructs, such as personality ( Inzlicht et al, 2021 ), resilience ( de la Fuente et al, 2017 ), personal strengths ( Lerner et al, 2021 ), coping strategies ( Amate-Romera and de la Fuente, 2021 ), emotionality ( Lajoie et al, 2021 ) and perfectionism ( Thakre and Sebastian, 2021 ). Recently, studies have considered the dysfunctional level of self-regulation ( dys-regulation ) as a transdiagnostic variable ( p factor ) underlying numerous psychiatric psychopathologies ( Duncan et al, 1996 ; Choi and Abbott, 2020 ; Huffhines et al, 2020 ; Smith et al, 2020 ; Levin-Aspenson et al, 2021 ; Romer et al, 2021 ) varying levels of which are relevant to criminal pathologies ( Billen et al, 2021 ).…”