A Stress Inoculation Program to Cope with Test Anxiety: Differential Efficacy as a Function of Worry or Emotionality

Abstract

Objective: This study experimentally investigated whether the effects of three different coping programs designed to reduce test anxiety were due to the predominant component of participants’ anxiety. Design: The study involved 259 participants, high text anxiety university students, real clinical cases collected and studied during eight years. The experimental sample was finally composed of 94 selected participants with irrational test anxiety. The experimental factors were: Therapy (intra-subject factor, pre and post- intervention), Treatment (cognitive, physiological and cognitive-physiological), Worry (high-low) and Emotionality (high-low). Measures: Several anxiety questionnaires (TAS, TAI, ITA, CI, STAI) were used as indicators of anxiety. Results: Using confidence intervals, we found evidence of changes in the level of measured anxiety in varied degree in the different Worry and Emotionality groups. Conclusion: The three different training programmes reduced test anxiety but did not lead to reductions on the same scale in pre-test anxiety in different groups of emotionality and worry. These results could be decisive in the phase of selection of the most suitable treatment for the patient along the therapeutic process.