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The relationship between test anxiety, rumination, and psychological flexibility

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Abstract

Students’ anxiety over taking tests, which play a vital role in their educational lives, is very prevalent in our country. The purpose of this study is to reveal the pattern of relationships between test anxiety, psychological flexibility, and rumination. The survey included 247 (35%) men and 458 (65%) women from Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University’s several faculties. 705 individuals provided information. Test anxiety is classified as low, medium, or high. While psychological inflexibility and rumination were more prevalent in the high-test anxiety group, it can be demonstrated that being in the high-test anxiety group predicts psychological inflexibility and rumination. The relationship pattern between test anxiety, psychological flexibility, and rumination was investigated using structural equation modelling. Rumination was shown to be a significant variable in the relationship between test anxiety and psychological flexibility, the model analysed was found to be significant and all fit indexes were acceptable. Test anxiety has an important role in the individual’s psychological inflexibility and rumination.

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Data Availability

The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available in the https://osf.io/ repository, https://osf.io/qhw9z/

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Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Ass. Prof. Dr. Sinem Acar for her support for the manuscript.

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  1. Faculty of Education, Department of Educational Science, Program of Guidance and Psychological Counseling, Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University, Muğla, Turkey

    Uğur Doğan

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The Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University, Social and Human Sciences Ethics Committee, approved this study with application number 210018 dated 08.01.2021.

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Doğan, U. The relationship between test anxiety, rumination, and psychological flexibility. Curr Psychol 43, 2568–2577 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-023-04411-9

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