Antecedents of Academic Anxiety: Testing Control-Value Theory and the Internal/External Frame of Reference Model

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  In Roundtable Session: Anxiety: A Closer Look

Abstract

The present study examined 836 Chinese secondary school students over the course of an academic year to investigate the antecedents of academic anxiety in Chinese, Mathematics, and English. Hypotheses were based on Pekrun’s Control-Value Theory of achievement emotions and Marsh’s internal/external frame of reference model, and tested utilizing longitudinal data. In line with the assumptions of Control-Value theory, within each subject, academic self-concept and interest negatively predicted academic anxiety. Additionally, academic self-concept and interest had a negative within-subject effect on anxiety, but a positive cross-subject effect on anxiety, which corroborated internal/external frame of reference model. Although stereotypic differences in mean levels, the relations between constructs were gender-invariant.

Author

• Jing Zhang, East China Normal University