Sex Differences in Test Anxiety in Terms of the Worry-Emotionality Distinction

Abstract

The components of worry and emotionality of the test anxiety construct (Liebert and Morris, 1967) were expected to operate as a unitary response construct in girls of grade six when the context of an evaluative achievement setting was explicitly included in the measuring operation. In the same situational context, worry and emotionality were expected to operate as two distinctive non-overlapping response constructs in boys at the same age. The findings supported these expectations and were interpreted in terms of a cognitive-attentional theory of test anxiety. The importance of measuring worry and emotionality explicitly embedded in an evaluative interpersonal achievement context is emphasized.