Some Correlates of Test-Taking Anxiety

Abstract

The relations of anxiety as measured by the Alpert-Haber Achievement Anxiety scale to extroversion, neuroticism, and optimism were explored. Anxiety scores were those derived from the Facilitating (helpful) subscale, the Debilitating (crippling) subscale, and the Facilitating minus the Debilitating subscale. Ss were 134 members of a sophomore social science class. For the total group, significant relationships were found among three measures of anxiety and neuroticism and optimism but none with extroversion. By sex, only the males showed the same significant correlations as the total sample. Further studies, particularly with the anxiety measures, must be cautious of possible sex differences. Since the relationships found among neuroticism, optimism, and the anxiety types were logical, some construct validity is derived for the Alpert-Haber scale.