Metacognition and maladaptive coping as components of test anxiety

Text anxiety refers both to states of distress and worry during examination s, and to traits which predispose the person to state anxiety. Wells and Ma tthews (1994) have proposed a general model of emotional disorder which des cribes a variety of cognitive processes which may contribute to trait and s tate test anxiety. These processes include excessive metacognition, maladap tive coping and worry. A study was run to investigate relationships between cognitive processes and test anxiety. Eighty-four undergraduate students c ompleted questionnaires relating to cognition and trait text anxiety prior to an examination. Their stress states and coping during the examination it self were also assessed. Results showed that trait test anxiety relates to two distinct cognitive factors, relating to (i) metacognition and worry, an d (ii) maladaptive coping. Cognitive measures also predicted some aspects o f state response to the examination setting. Relationships between cognitio n and test anxiety were generally consistent with the model of Wells and Ma tthews (1994). Results also suggested that treatment for pathological test anxiety should reflect its cognitive basis. For example, test anxiety based on metacognitive dysfunction may require use of cognitive-behavioural tech niques used to treat more general anxiety conditions. Conversely, test anxi ety derived from maladaptive coping may respond best to training in coping skills. Attention training techniques may contribute to therapy for both me tacognition and coping-based disorder. Copyright (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons , Ltd.