Can automatic thoughts and test anxiety explain school success and satisfaction in adolescents?

Abstract

School situation, especially the one in class, causes a certain level of anxiety in most children and adolescents and arouses thinking about testing, grades, accomplishments, and possible success and failure. Based on cognitive-behavioral model, this research aimed to explore possible developmental differences in the role that automatic thoughts and test anxiety have in explaining school success and satisfaction in adolescents; and to examine possible differences in prominence of the examined variables in relation to sex. The data were obtained in one primary and one secondary school in Stip, R. Macedonia, at the end of the second term of the 2010/2011 school year. The sample consisted of 110 students, aged 13-14 years, from the 7th and 8th grade of primary school, and 120 students, aged 15-16 years, from 1st and 2nd year of secondary school, of which 148 were female, and 82 male. We have used the adapted scale for the assessment of automatic thoughts during learning (Živčić-Bećirević, 2003); an adapted version of Spielberg’s Test Anxiety Inventory; Likert scale for satisfaction with themselves as students; and assessment of overall school success. All three types of negative thoughts were significant predictors of school success, while positive thoughts and negative thoughts related to fear of failure and fear of disappointing parents were significant predictors of student satisfaction as students. Girls have more negative thoughts related to fear of failure than boys do, which is also reflected on their higher test anxiety and they are at the same time less satisfied with their school achievements than boys. While there is no difference in the frequency of positive thoughts, older students have more negative thoughts than younger ones, as well as higher test anxiety. It is also notable that negative automatic thoughts related to fear of disappointing parents have significant effect on the success and satisfaction only in older group of students.