Test and Math Anxiety: A Validation of the German Test Anxiety Questionnaire

Abstract

The present study investigated the construct validity of the Test Anxiety Questionnaire (Prüfungsangstfragebogen PAF; Hodapp, Rohrmann, & Ringeisen, 2011), a revised and shortened version of the German Test Anxiety Inventory (TAI-G), by comparing it with math anxiety. A sample of German fifth- and sixth-grade students (N = 79; 61 % male) was analyzed. Math anxiety was measured by a German adaptation of the Math Anxiety Questionnaire (Fragebogen für Rechenangst FRA; Krinzinger et al., 2007). A significant but moderate correlation between test anxiety and math anxiety was found. In regression analyses, math anxiety predicted math performance whereas test anxiety explained additional variance for both math and overall performance. It can be concluded that math and test anxiety have overlaps, but do not constitute the same construct. Thus, the results support the construct validity of the PAF indicating its usefulness in practical application.

Measuring Test Anxiety With an Invariant Measure Across Genders: The Case of the German Test Anxiety Inventory

“…Again, scores pertaining to the Worry and Lack of Confidence subscales were significantly and negatively correlated with performance motivation, and significant and negative correlations between the PAF subscales and grades were found, particularly math grades. Consistent with these findings, Schnell et al.’s (2013) research on high school students found that the Interference and Lack of Confidence subscale scores were significantly negatively correlated with both math and language performance. Additionally, they found that all of the PAF subscale scores, with the exception of Worry , were significantly positively related to math anxiety.…”

“…As for convergent validity, the four subscores associated with the PAF positively correlated with the inhibitory test anxiety measure (Hoferichter et al., 2016), with correlation coefficients of .59, .51, .30, and .18 with Worry , Emotionality , Interference , and Lack of Confidence subscale scores, respectively. Finally, as support for incremental validity, the total score of the PAF was a significant predictor, together with gender, of overall school performance in a regression model that also included gender and math anxiety (Schnell et al., 2013).…”

“…Internal consistency of the PAF has been found to be satisfactory, with Cronbach’s alphas that range from .71 to .85 (Hoferichter et al., 2016; Schnell et al., 2013). In terms of construct validity, an exploratory factor analysis and a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) supported the four-factor model: Worry explained 26.51% of the total variance, Emotionality 17.51%, Interference 7.63%, and Lack of Confidence 5.60%.…”

“…Gender difference is an important factor to consider, as female students across all age groups report higher levels of test anxiety than male students (Chapell et al., 2005; Goetz, Bieg, Lüdtke, Pekrun, & Hall, 2013; Hodapp, Rohrmann, & Ringeisen, 2011; A. S. McDonald, 2001; Ringeisen et al., 2016; Schnell, Tibubos, Rohrmann, & Hodapp, 2013; Wren & Benson, 2004; Zeidner, 2007). For instance, in their work on noncognitive predictors of grades among freshman students, Fischer, Schult, and Hell (2013) found that females showed significantly higher test anxiety than males, and this difference displayed an effect size of .36.…”

“…It consists of 20 items, with five items per subscale. This test has been used predominantly in German studies that investigate test anxiety among adolescents (Hodapp et al., 2011; Ringeisen et al., 2016; Schnell et al., 2013) and young adults (Fischer et al., 2013; Reiss et al., 2017). Several other studies (Ringeisen et al., 2016; Schnell et al., 2013) have also found it to be a reliable and valid measure, and an English version for 11- to 16-year-old students has recently been published (PAF-E; Hoferichter, Raufelder, Ringeisen, Rohrmann, & Bukoski, 2016).…”