TEST ANXIETY AND CHILDHOOD ANXIETY DISORDERS IN AFRICAN-AMERICAN AND WHITE SCHOOL-CHILDREN

Recent data suggest that a substantial percentage of test-anxious whit e children suffer concurrently from social pbobia or overanxious disor der. However, there are no data on the relationship among these condit ions in African American children. This study compared the relationshi p of test anxiety, a common childhood complaint, to other DSM-III-R an xiety disorders in samples of African American and white elementary sc hool children. As expected, the results indicated that there were sign ificant differences between test anxious and nontest anxious children on self-report and behavioral assessment data. Differences in race wer e found for pulse rate and systolic blood pressure during the behavior al task, where the white children had significantly higher increases. In addition, a substantial percentage of both test-anxious groups (whi te and African American) met DSM-III-R criteria for an anxiety disorde r, and significantly more African American than while children met cri teria for social phobia. The results are discussed in terms of the com orbidity of test anxiety and other anxiety disorders in both groups, a nd the similarities and differences in their expression across race.