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Research Communications in Psychology, Psychiatry and Behavior, ISSN: 0362-2428
Investigating the role of cognitive emotion regulation strategies in prediction of test
anxiety in Students
Mohammad shakeria, Hadi parhoonb*, Ali parhoonc,kamal Parhoond
aFaculty Member, North Khorasan University of Medical Sciences,Bojnurd,Iran
bPh.D student of health Psychology, Dept. of Clinical Psychology, Kharazmi University, Tehran, Iran
cB S in Education, Farhangian University, , Kermanshah,, Iran
dPhD student of Psychology and Education of Exceptional Children, University of Allameh Tabataba i, Tehran, Iran
Abstract
Background: Emotion regulation, is a fundamental principle at the beginning, evaluation and
organization of adaptive behavior and avoids negative emotions and inappropriate behavior; therefore the
aim of this study was to investigate the role of cognitive emotion regulation strategies in prediction of test
anxiety in students. Method: In form of a cross-sectional design, using convenience sampling, 200
students in Kermanshah University were selected. Research tools included Leahy Emotional Schemas
scale(LESS), Sarason s Test Anxiety Scale (TAS). The obtained data were analyzed using correlation and
regression analysis. Results: The Results have shown that there is a significant relationship between all
cognitive emotion regulation strategies with test anxiety in students (P˂0.05). In addition, the results
showed that among the subscales of cognitive emotion regulation only strategy of rumination,
catastrophizing and blaming others have the ability to predict and explain test anxiety among the students.
Conclusion. The findings of this study suggest that one of the contributing factors in the development of
anxiety test in students is cognitive strategies. Which is applied after the experience of threatening event
in to order to regulate one s emotions. Therefore paying attention to cognitive emotion regulation
strategies, especially maladaptive strategies such as rumination, acceptance, focus on planning, blaming
others and catastrophizing can be effective in reducing test anxiety in students
© 2016 The Authors. Published by European Science publishing Ltd.
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the Organizing Committee of European Science publishing Ltd.
Keywords: cognitive emotion regulation; test Anxiety; students.
Introduction
University is a symbol of progress and renaissance in every society. In fact, the backbone of every society s progress
and glory is on the shoulders of its universities. In the meantime the most important mission of universities is
considered to be fostering efficient and elite human wealth to achieve and conquer the peaks of science and gift the
progress horizons and innovation in society. Although, the fastest growth of universities, in country of Iran, in the
* Corresponding author.
© 2016 The Authors. Published by European Science publishing Ltd.
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the Organizing Committee of European Science publishing Ltd.
2
Author name / Research Communications in Psychology, Psychiatry and Behavior, ISSN: 0362-2428(2017)101_106
past two decades had advantages such as making up for the lack of skilled and efficient specialist but it has also left
a lot of irreversible effects in terms of quantity and quality on education of students. One of the threatening factors
that cause anxiety and stress in students is the evaluation and examination procedures. The results of research
indicates that the anxiety of exam leaves significant effects on academic achievement and motivation of the students
(Khalaila, 2015; Khosravi & Bigdely, 2008; Yazdani F, 2012). Test anxiety is defined as a set of psychological,
physiological and behavioral responses associated with worry and stress considering the negative and poor outcomes
in exam and evaluation (Khalaila, 2015). In fact, test anxiety is an unpleasant emotional reaction to the evaluated
situation that affects many of the pupils and students. It is determined with a sense of kind of tension, anxiety and
arousal of the autonomic nervous system. Test anxiety entails negative physical, cognitive and behavioral effects for
individuals. In addition to this, test anxiety causes threat to student s mental health and has a negative effect on the
individual s efficiency, prosperity, talents and the formation of character and their social identities(Stankov, 2010).
Test anxiety is a considered as a situational variable that has been studied extensively in academic
achievements(Chapell et al., 2005; Farooqi, Ghani, & Spielberger, 2012). Studies have shown that there is a
negative correlation between test anxiety and academic achievement, therefore, high levels of test anxiety impairs
students attention and concentration. This has destructive consequences which are associated with academic
problems in students, low academic achievement, along delay for going to higher education levels and increase of
the likelihood in dropping out of school (Chapell et al., 2005; Iroegbu, 2013; Rezazadeh & Tavakoli, 2009; Trifoni
& Shahini, 2011). In addition to this, one of the devastating impact of the consequences of test anxiety is on the
academic achievement. The results of research showed that test anxiety as a situational factor has a negative and
destructive impact on the ability of pupils and students in being successful and reaching higher stages of
academy(Guay, Ratelle, Roy, & Litalien, 2010; Pitt, Powis, Levett-Jones, & Hunter, 2014; van den Berg & Coetzee,
2014). On the other hand, human is not a creature that only experiences emotion, but across from experiencing
emotions, an individual reviews it, regulates it, and in some cases they fight it. The result of researches show that
every moment emotions affect attention, decision-making, memory, physiological responses and social interactions
(Hasani 2011). Emotion regulation refers to strategies which are used in order to reduce, increase or maintain
emotional experiences(Gross & Thampson, 2007). In general, it is assumed that emotion regulation has been one of
the basic factors of well-being and successful functioning and plays an important role in coping with stressful life
events (Duarte, Matos, & Marques, 2015; Garnefski N, Kraaij V, & Spinhoven P, 2001). At a glance it can be stated
that people generally use different strategies for emotional regulation processes. One of the most common strategies
is emotion regulation using cognitive processes (cognitive emotion regulation). Cognitive emotion regulation
strategies refers to how people think after the occurrence of a negative experience or traumatic event (Moyal, Henik,
& Anholt, 2013; Werner, Goldin, Ball, Heimberg, & Gross, 2011). Cognitive emotion regulation has a key role in
normal and abnormal processes and it is efficient against negative stimuli and unpleasant emotional experiences
(Duarte et al., 2015). Despite the vast amount of research in the field of test anxiety, no research has not yet paid any
attention to the investigation on the role of cognitive emotion regulation strategies on test anxiety among students.
Thus, according to many problems that students have as main loop of educational development in the field of test
anxiety and since the bulk of the problems is due to dysfunctional emotions and cognitions of these individuals, and
given that no research has taken place in Iran under this title, this study took place with the aim to investigate the
role of cognitive emotion regulation strategies in prediction of test anxiety of students.
methods
This study is part of applied research, in terms of purpose and in terms of data collection it is considered to be a
descriptive study (correlation). The statistic population consisted of all university students in Kermanshah city in the
academic year of 2015-16. Using convenience sampling, 200 students (100 girls and 100 boys) were selected. After
selecting the samples and the necessary coordination, the research goals were described in terms of obligations of
research executives and their expectations of students participating in the research and noting the ethical criteria
such as free participation in research, confidentiality and mental and physical security of students, the needed data
started to be collected. Therefore, the questionnaire was provided to each student who was present in the sample,
individually. If necessary, instructions were given and the considered answer was registered. After the completion
and collection, using descriptive statistics methods (frequency, mean and standard deviation) and inferential
statistics (Pearson correlation and concurrent regression analysis), data were analyzed using SPSS 21 software.
Cognitive emotion regulation questionnaire: A Cognitive emotion regulation questionnaire was conducted by
Garnefsky and Kraaij (2007) which is a 36-item self-report tool to identify coping cognitive strategies individuals
(Garnefski & Kraaij, 2007). The questionnaire included 9 sub-scales representing 9 cognitive emotion regulation
Author name / Research Communications in Psychology, Psychiatry and Behavior, ISSN: 0362-2428(2017)101_106
3
strategies of emotion that are divided into two categories of adaptive strategies which includes positive refocusing
and positive reappraisal, focus on planning, compliance and taking perspective. Maladaptive strategies includes selfblame, catastrophizing, rumination and blaming others. High scores on each subscale reflects the greater use of this
strategy against stressful and negative events. The Persian version of this questionnaire has been standardized by
Hassani. Its reliability and validity has been confirmed (Hasani 2011).
Test anxiety questionnaire: This scale is a short questionnaire, which contains 37 items of two choices with "Yes"
"No that the participants must answer at least in 10 to 15 minutes”. This way based on a self-report method we can
achieve mental and psychological moods and physiological experiences of an individual during, before and after the
test. In this scale the range of scores is from zero to 37. The determined cut-off points on this scale for mild anxiety
score is 12 or below, the average anxiety score is 13 to 20, and severe anxiety score is higher than 20. In Various
researches the reliability and validity of this scale has been approved. The Cronbach s alpha coefficient for the scale
was reported to be 88.0, the internal consistency 95.0 and validity criteria 72.0. This report is totally reliable . In this
study using, Cronbach s alpha coefficient reliability of this scale was reported to be 86.0.
Results
In Table 1, the mean and standard deviation of cognitive emotion regulation strategies, test anxiety and Pearson
correlation coefficients of cognitive emotion regulation strategies with test anxiety is inserted.
Table 1: Descriptive indices (mean and standard deviation) for the subscales of cognitive emotion regulation and test
anxiety.
Variables
M
SD
Correlation coefficien
Test Anxiety
4/53
10/33
Self-blame
0/45**
7/96
16/45
Acceptance
-0/32**
4/59
11/53
Rumination
0/34**
5/53
12/28
Positive refocusing
-0/48**
4
/
79
12/12
Refocus on planning
-0/23*
5
/
25
12
/
85
Positive reappraisal
-0/31**
5
/
79
10
/
20
Putting into perspective
-0/13*
4/10
9/80
Catastrophizing
0/55**
2/37
6/50
Blaming others
0/15*
5/07
14/35
Test Anxiety
As seen in Table 1, there is a positive relationship between test anxiety and strategies of self-blame, rumination,
catastrophizing and a negative relationship with acceptance, positive focus, planning, reassessment, perspective
taking. Then, in order to determine the role of each variables of cognitive regulation in prediction and explanation of
the variance of test anxiety concurrent regression was used. The results are reported in the following. In order to use
regression model it is needed for the used presumptions to be tested. For this purpose, the Durbin-Watson
experiment to assess the independence of errors, collinearity experiment with two indices of coefficient of tolerance
and the variance inflation factor as well as Kolmogorov–Smirnov test were implemented to study the normality of
distribution. In predicting the academic achievement component of the cognitive emotion regulation strategies,
number values of Durbin-Watson (1.65), and Kolmogorov -Smirnov (P> 0.05) were representative of independence
of the errors and normal distribution. Other characteristics of regression and assumptions of collinearity are reported
in table two. Indices of collinearity show that there was no collinearity between the predicting variables. The yielded
results are viable from the regression model. To investigate the role of cognitive emotion regulation strategies in
prediction of test anxiety among students, concurrent regression was used. The model of predicting test anxiety from
the cognitive emotion regulation model showed that multi-R related to regression is statistically significant P>0.001
< and F (9 and189) =8.09. This indicates that independent variables (components of cognitive emotion regulation)
have appropriate explanatory power and can very well explain the dependent variable changes (test anxiety). Then,
to show the role of each of the components of emotional regulation in predicting the anxiety variance, standard
regression coefficient (Beta) was used. The summary of the results of this regression model is reported in Table 3.
Table 3. The statistical characteristics of concurrent regression of cognitive emotion regulation strategies on test anxiety
predictor
R
R2
F
B
βeta
t
tolerance
VIF
4
Author name / Research Communications in Psychology, Psychiatry and Behavior, ISSN: 0362-2428(2017)101_106
Self-blame
Acceptance
Rumination
Positive refocusing
Refocus on planning
Positive reappraisal
Putting into perspective
Catastrophizing
Blaming others
0/64
0/41
(9,189)
0/32
0/93
1/12
0/87
1/09
0/39
0/23
1/29
0/15
0/25
0/28
-0/50
0/39
0/46
0/09
0/08
-0/48
0/07
0/26
**4/22
**5/35
*2/26
**3/76
0/30
0/26
**3/91
0/10
1
0/79
0/76
0/29
0/80
0/36
0/58
0/69
0/45
1
1/26
1/31
3/44
1/25
2/77
1/72
1/44
2/22
In addition to this in order to predict the anxiety component from the cognitive emotion regulation strategies number
values of Watson-Durbin test (1.72), and Kolmogorov-Smirnov (p>0.05) were representative of independence of
errors and normal distribution. In table 3, the indices of collinearity show there was no collinearity between the
predicting variables, and the results of the regression model is viable. The Results of Table 3 show that apart from
rumination strategy, catastrophizing and blaming others, other cognitive emotion regulation strategies do not have
the ability to predict and explain test anxiety among students.
Discussion
The current study aimed to investigate the role of cognitive emotion regulation strategies on test anxiety of students.
The finding of the current study indicated that there is a significant relationship among all cognitive emotion
regulation strategies with test anxiety among students. This finding is consistent with results of the preceding studies
in this field that cognitive emotion regulation strategies play a role in predicting students test anxiety (Capaaydin,
2009; Khalaila, 2015). In addition to this results the researches showed that among the subscales of cognitive
emotion regulation strategy only the subscale of rumination strategy, catastrophizing and blaming others have the
ability to predict and explain test anxiety among students. Individuals can launch positive emotions and facilitators,
by regulation and managing their emotions. They can take the effective social communication strategies and
flexibility in attention and making decisions under stressful conditions, under control in a favorable manner. Test
anxiety has two important components of anxiety and emotionality. Anxiety and emotional arousal are factors that
greatly affect the performance of individuals in situations such as situations of test. In two aspects we can explain
these two aspects, firstly emotional changes with the mediated effects they have on mental performance lead to
forgetfulness in the learned material or interference of material with each other, which this process will increase
students test anxiety. Secondly, the interpretation that people have from these arousals can impact their function and
also the amount of their emotions. If the students have a high negative assessment of their emotional arousal and
consider it as deterrent and disruptive, they will experience more anxiety. The findings also suggest that there is a
positive relationship between test anxiety strategies with self-blame strategies, rumination, catastrophizing and a
negative relationship between acceptance, positive focus, planning, reassessment and taking perspective. This
indicates that independent variables (cognitive emotion regulation components) had a good explanatory power and
could well explain the changes in the dependent variable (test anxiety). To explain this finding, it can be said that the
capability of students in dealing with exam situations by accepting the current statue without any judgments and
prejudices and trying not to aggravate their anxiety by repeating dysfunctional thoughts, undoubtedly their test
anxiety will not be severe. They will rely more on their abilities and that makes them exhibit their abilities as best as
possible. Also, students who try to retain their focus by taking control of the environment, when they are in a
position to be evaluated or have exam and with planning and problem solving they can take control of the current
situation and have empathy towards others and in test anxiety, they have better position compared to individuals
who do not rely on their available capacities and their abilities are more affected by the evaluated environmental
conditions and are unable to control the environment, and with self-blame, blaming others, rumination, negative
thoughts and inefficient repetition of it, they begin catastrophizing, lose control over the situation and those
individuals who use planning get rarely affected by the evaluation and the resulting anxiety. In fact, with proper
recognition of one s abilities and proper management of their emotions in the exam position they are able to to
properly and efficiently put their abilities into action. In addition to this, the results indicate that other than the
rumination strategy, catastrophizing and blaming others, other cognitive emotion regulation strategies have not had
Author name / Research Communications in Psychology, Psychiatry and Behavior, ISSN: 0362-2428(2017)101_106
5
the ability to predict and explain test anxiety among students. Cognitive emotion regulation is an important factor in
coping with stressful life events. In fact, cognitive emotion regulation strategies have an important and influential
role in individual reactions in stressful and emotional situations. It can be said that students who use efficient and
positive strategies show lower anxiety in evaluating situations and circumstances and have shown better
performance. These results can be explained in a way that this adaptive strategy makes the person pay attention on
having different view of assessing negative events and the possible benefits that this incident will have in the long
run. As a result, they experience fewer discomfort and deal with the events much more easily. The issue will have a
significant positive impact on the results of their efforts. In other words, we can say that the use of maladaptive
strategies for students makes them prone to anxiety. As a result, instead of a reaction to proper response to stressful
events, they react with anxiety and distress, while adaptive strategies do not have these outcomes and makes the
individual win a control of the situation by appropriate planning and management of emotions and by relying on
their abilities they will have higher efficiency. According to the findings of the current research based on significant
difference among students who use positive cognitive emotion regulation strategies, show less test anxiety, it can be
concluded that paying attention to cognitive emotion regulation strategies have a significant positive impact on the
quality of the student s job. In fact, it can affect students academic achievement in a tangible and significant way. In
fact, many of the student s problems result from test anxiety and using negative and inefficient emotional cognitive
strategies which these individuals use while being evaluated. This negative and inefficient strategy highly affect the
result of their job and their academic achievement. This will not allow their abilities to be seen to the extent they
deserve and so it will not be put into action. The limitations faced by researchers in this study include sampling
methods of the research who were from convenient sampling. This could affect the accuracy and the capability of
the generalized.
Acknowledgements
A special appreciation and thanks goes upon all friends who helped us through the study and also to students who
had the highest cooperation and collaboration in this research.
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