Predicting Female Exam Anxiety in University Entrance Exam Candidates Based on Mothers' Cognitive Thinking Styles
Keywords:
Test anxiety, University entrance exam, Cognitive thinking styles, MotherAbstract
Test anxiety is one of the most common barriers to academic success, which, depending on its severity, disrupts an individual's functioning not only in academic contexts but also in psychological and emotional dimensions. The purpose of the present study was to predict female candidates' test anxiety in the university entrance exam based on their mothers' cognitive thinking styles. The research design was applied in nature and descriptive-correlational in methodology. It aimed to explore the relationship between test anxiety as the criterion variable and mothers' cognitive thinking styles as the predictor variable using correlation coefficients and to determine the predictive relationship between the criterion variable and the predictor variable. The sampling method was purposeful, with 150 participants selected for the study. It should be noted that part of the sample consisted of mothers of female high school students in the experimental sciences field who were preparing for the university entrance exam. In total, 300 participants, including the students themselves and their mothers, were involved. Students completed the Test Anxiety Questionnaire, and mothers completed the Thinking Styles Questionnaire. Data collection was based on Sarason's Test Anxiety Questionnaire (1957) and Sternberg and Wagner's Thinking Styles Questionnaire (1992). Descriptive and inferential statistics, including correlation and regression analysis, were performed using SPSS version 26. The results indicated that the executive, global, liberal, and internal thinking style variables negatively predicted test anxiety, while the conservative and local thinking style variables positively and significantly predicted test anxiety in university entrance exam candidates.
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