The reduction of Test, State, and Trait Anxiety by test-specific and generalized stress inoculation training

Abstract

Forty-eight highly test-anxious students in an introductory psychology class were randomly assigned to one of four treatment conditions. Two experimental conditions, a test-specific stress inoculation training and a generalized stress inoculation training condition were compared with two control conditions, a discussion control and a waiting-list control. The test-specific group received coping statements with test referents while the generalized group was trained with non-situation specific coping statements. Subjects were administered the Test Anxiety Scale, State-Trait Anxiety Inventories, and the Fear Survey Schedule prior to treatment, immediately following the three treatment sessions, and at the 3-week and 8-month follow-ups. Two verbal rating scales were administered after treatment to assess subjective feelings of test anxiousness and psychology test scores were recorded to assess performance changes before and after treatment. Testspecific training reduced test and trait anxiety relative to the two control groups and the generalized training reduced test anxiety relative to the waiting-list group. On both verbal rating scales the test-specific group showed greater test anxiety reductions over both controls while the generalized group showed anxiety reduction only over the waiting-list group on the first scale. These gains on the Test Anxiety Scale and State Trait Anxiety Inventories were maintained for both follow-ups.