COPING AS SELF-REGULATION OF ANXIETY: A MODEL FOR MATH ACHIEVEMENT IN HIGH-STAKES TESTS

ABSTRACT

 The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of cognitive and affective variables on the mathematics achievement of students taking the University Entrance Examination in Turkey, with metacognition and coping as self-regulatory variables. A model was proposed and tested by a program designed for structural equation modeling. Included in the model were variables in the cognitive and affective domains: mathematical background in the cognitive domain, and math anxiety, test anxiety, achievement motivation, and self-efficacy in the affective domain. Metacognition, taken to be self-regulation of cognition, and coping, taken to be self-regulation of anxiety, were specifically included. The sample comprised 751 high school seniors and recent high school graduates. The results indicated that the students’ mathematical background was the dominant predictor of mathematics achievement on the examination. Math anxiety more than test anxiety, self-efficacy, and two coping styles also had significant influence on achievement. Non-productive coping was the operational coping style with a positive effect on achievement and a buffering effect on anxiety. According to the theoretical conceptualisation of the study, coping as the self-regulation of anxiety rather than cognitive self-regulation was found to influence performance on the examination.

KEYWORDS: anxiety, coping, self-regulation, mathematics achievement, high-stakes testing.

PAGES: 311-332