Attachment, self-esteem and test anxiety in adolescence and early adulthood

The purpose of this study was to assess how attachment dimensions (anxiety and avoidance), self-esteem, and three subscales of test anxiety - cognitive obstruction, social derogation and tenseness are related in two age groups: adolescents and college students. Participants (N = 327) completed relevant questionnaires. Results showed that college students revealed higher test anxiety than did high school students on the cognitive obstruction and tenseness scales, whereas high school students revealed higher social derogation than college students. Anxious attachment was related to all three sub-scales of test anxiety and avoidant attachment was related to cognitive obstruction among college students and to tenseness among high school students. Most of the correlations between anxious attachment and test anxiety were mediated by self-esteem among high school students. The mediation ability of self-esteem was weaker among college students.