Cognitive and emotional facets of test anxiety in African American school children

This study used confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to investigate whether test anxiety (TA) can be conceptualised as a bidimensional construct consisting of cognitive and emotional facets in 152 African American school children, ages 8 to 13 years, M=9.98 years (SD=1.13 years); 54% girls. A two-factor model was determined a priori by classifying items from the Test Anxiety Scale for Children (TASC; Sarason, Davidson, Lighthall, Waite, Ruebush, 1960) as either "Cognitive" or "Emotional" as determined by independent raters. Results demonstrated distinct cognitive and emotional facets of TA can be meaningfully captured in African American school children. Results also demonstrated African American girls had higher mean scores than African American boys on both the Cognitive and Emotional factors specified by the TASC in the CFA model. Theoretical and practical implications of the results are discussed with respect to the nature of TA in African American school children.