Conrad,
Jordyn (1/09) Test anxiety, the looming maladaptive style and behavioral manifestations
of anxiety in response to threat: a laboratory study in a university population
(Howard Mcguire, Ph.D.; Philip Wong, Ph.D.; Joan Duncan, Ph.D.)
The present study investigated patterns of
attention bias under varying levels of stress in relation to self-reported
anxiety in 108 university students in an attempt to propose Riskind's (1997)
Looming Vulnerability Model as a descriptive model for test anxiety. Principal
self-report measures were Spielberger's Test Anxiety Inventory (TAI; 1980) and
Riskind, Williams, Gessner, Chrosniak and Cortina's Looming Maladaptive Style
Questionnaire Revised (LMSQ-R; 2000). A modified dot probe task presenting test
anxiety related, looming related and general negative threat words paired with
neutral words measured selective attention. To create an anxiety condition, 50%
of participants were informed that they would be tested on material presented
in the dot probe task after its completion.
As hypothesized, scores on the TAI and
LMSQ-R were positively correlated. However, even though induction of stress did
influence attention biases, self-reported levels of anxiety were not
significantly involved in these interactions. Further, closer examination of
reaction times in relation to levels of self-reported anxiety revealed a bias
in attention towards test anxiety related threat words for those in the Test
condition in which anxiety was induced for all participants. This occurred
regardless of their test anxiety levels. Individuals who scored above the
median on the LMSQ-R did not bias attention towards looming related threat
words as predicted, but tended to avoid them. This group did, however,
selectively attend to test anxiety related threat words. Contrary to
hypothesis, those who scored below the median on the TAI and LMSQ-R also tended
to bias attention towards test anxiety related words and away from looming
related words when informed of an upcoming test. The Looming Vulnerability
Model was not supported as a descriptive model for test anxiety in this study.
