Eighth grade students' emotion regulation strategies during test taking: The role of gender, cognitive appraisal processes, academic self-efficacy, and test anxiety

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Tezin Türü: Yüksek Lisans

Tezin Yürütüldüğü Kurum: Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi, Eğitim Fakültesi, Eğitim Bilimleri Bölümü, Türkiye

Tezin Onay Tarihi: 2009

Öğrenci: AYŞEGÜL GÜÇLÜ

Danışman: YEŞİM ÇAPA AYDIN

Özet:

The purpose of the study was to examine the role of test anxiety, academic self-efficacy, and cognitive appraisal processes in predicting eighth grade students’ emotion regulation strategies during test taking. In addition, gender was included as a predictor in the study. The sample of the study consisted of 778 eighth grade students (398 females and 380 males) in 17 schools of Çankaya and Yenimahalle districts in Ankara. Emotion Regulation during Test Taking Scale (ERT) (Schutz, Distefano, Benson, & Davis, 2004), Anxiety subscale of Academic Emotions Questionnaire (AEQ) (Pekrun, Goetz, Titz, & Perry, 2002), and Academic Self-Efficacy Scale (ASE) (Jerusalem & Schwarzer, 1981) were used to collect the data. Confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) were performed for the ERT, anxiety subscale of AEQ, and ASE scale. All of the scales were working as intended. Cronbach alpha coefficients were .85 for test anxiety, .76 for ASE, and ranged from .58 to .75 for ERT scale. Four separate hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to examine the role of gender, cognitive appraisal processes (goal congruence, agency, and testing problem efficacy), academic self-efficacy, and test anxiety in predicting four emotion regulation strategies: task focusing, tension reduction, wishful thinking, and self blame strategies. For all strategies, almost all of the predictors were found statistically significant. Test anxiety was found to be the most powerful predictor for all the dependent variables. Girls tend to use more emotional regulation strategies than boys.