Exploring Cross-Cultural and Gender Differences in Test Anxiety Among U.S. and Canadian College Students

Abstract

Existing measures of test anxiety used with the college student population are old with old norms and old items, and they do not capture the multiple dimensions of the test anxiety construct or assess facilitating anxiety. In the present study, the validity of the scores of a new, multidimensional measure of test anxiety with a facilitating component, the Test Anxiety Measure for College Students (TAM-C) was examined in a sample of 1,344 Canadian and U.S. college students. Tests of measurement invariance were performed across culture and gender on the TAM-C and cultural and gender differences were explored. The results of multigroup confirmatory factor analyses across culture and gender supported strong invariance on the TAM-C. Latent mean analyses were also conducted and cultural and gender differences were found on the TAM-C. Although additional research is needed, the TAM-C appears to be a promising new measure for use with Canadian and U.S. college students.