Examining the relationship between Emotional Intelligence and

the dimensions of Test Anxiety

Sreeparna Dutta,
Research Associate, ICSSR, Dept. Of Applied Psychology, Univ of Calcutta.India
Dr. Sadhan Das Gupta,
Professor and Head, Dept. Of Applied Psychology, Univ of Calcutta, India
Abstract
Test anxiety refers to the appraisal of a test or other evaluative situation as threatening and consists of
distinct cognitive, affective physiological and behavioural components (Zeidner & Mathews, 2005).
Test anxious pupil have difficulty concentrating in test, and in reading and understanding test
instructions and questions; they become easily distracted, and experience problems in recalling learnt
material (King, Ollendick & Gullone, 1998). Previous studies have shown that there is a relationship
between emotional intelligence and low academic achievement (Stottlemayer 2002). The objectives of
our study are to examine the relationship between emotional intelligence and test anxiety. Sample
consisted of 324 adolescents from different Higher Secondary Schools in Kolkata, West Bengal and
consisted of class 11 and 12 students, from all the educational streams (arts, science and commerce)
and both sexes were taken in the study. The age of the participants ranged from 15-18 years. The mean
age of the sample 16.51. The tools used were social demographic data, test attitude inventory and
emotional intelligence scale. Results showed that emotional intelligence is negative predicted and
negatively correlation with worry component whereas emotional intelligence shows no significant
relationship with emotionality component. The study tries to assess the relationship between emotional
intelligence and the two dimensions of test anxiety.
Keywords: Emotional Intelligence, Test anxiety, Worry, Emotionality
Test anxiety refers to the appraisal of a test or other evaluative situation as threatening and consists of
distinct cognitive, affective physiological and behavioural components (Zeidner & Mathews, 2005).
The cognitive component incorporates the worrisome thoughts and concerns about the consequences
of failure, the affective-physiological component to physical sensations that accompany anxiety
(trembling, headaches, etc.) and the behavioural component deals with actions indicating a lack of task
focus during a test such as playing with a pencil, looking around the room and so forth. The origins of
test anxiety can be traced back in the psychology of individual measurement and the vast majority of
literature has used quantitative measures of test anxiety, however qualitative approaches have also
proved useful in accessing the situated and contextual features of the test anxious experience (Anton &
Lillibridge, 1995; Putwain, 2009). On the other hand Salovey and Mayer (1990) defined emotional
intelligence as the subset of social in that involves the ability to monitor ones own and others
feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them, and to use this information to guide ones thinking
and action (p. 189). Through appropriate emotional intelligence skills, one can apply his or her
judgement and reasoning to deal with anxious situations. Once the danger signal (Elder, 1997) or
the internal earthquake (Watkins& Karr, 1940) arising from encountering special situations is off, the
performance will be better.
It has long been investigated that there is a relationship between performance and emotional
intelligence. Adeyemo (2007) studied the moderating influence of emotional intelligence on the link
between academic self-efficacy and achievement among university students. The study revealed that
emotional intelligence significantly correlated with academic achievement. Stottlemayer (2002)
conducted a study of EQ and its relation to students achievement among 200 eleventh and twelfth
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grade American students in Texas found that EI skills were significantly predictory of academic
achievement. Also, Besharat et al. (2005) examined the impact of emotional intelligence on academic
success and mental health in 220 Iranian university students in Isfahan. The study showed that EQ was
negatively correlated with psychological stress and positively with academic success. Moreover
studies have also shown that there exists a relationship between test anxiety and academic
performance. It is found that test-anxious children are more likely to receive poorer scores, repeat a
grade, and perform more poorly on tasks requiring new learning and on those administered in a highly
evaluative manner (Beidel, Turner, & Karen., 1994; De Rosa and Patalano, 1991). Anxiety over test
performance has also been related to low self-esteem, dependency, and passivity (Yildirim, & Ergene,
2003; Yildirim, Genctanirim, Yalcin, & Baydan, 2008), all of which have an adverse effect on
academic achievement (Zeidner, 1998).
As previous studies have provided us with insights that emotional intelligence is related to poor
academic performance and also test anxiety is associated with poor performance, in this study an
attempt has been made to examine the relationship between emotional intelligence and the dimensions
of test anxiety. Earlier test anxiety was thought to be uni-dimensional but gradually it has been
segmented into dimensions and very few studies have tried to examine test anxiety with respect to its
dimensions. Previous studies have mainly worked on test anxiety as a whole but this study has
considered the dimensions of test anxiety while investigating its relationship with emotional
intelligence.
Purpose of the Study and Research Questions
The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between emotional intelligence and the
dimensions of test anxiety among higher secondary school students in Kolkata, India.
In this study, the following questions were explored:
1. Are there any significant relationships between the dimensions of test anxiety and emotional
intelligence?
2. Does emotional intelligence predict worry and emotionality dimension of test anxiety?
3. Does any difference exist between males and females with respect to the dimensions of test
anxiety?
Method
Participants
Data was collected from 324 adolescents from different Higher Secondary Schools in Kolkata, West
Bengal. The sample consisted of class 11 and 12 students, from all the educational streams (arts,
science and commerce) and both sexes were taken in the study. The age of the participants ranged
from 15-18 years. They were staying with their family members. It was also taken into consideration
that they did not have any history of significant physical, psychological or neurological condition or of
Mental Retardation, Epilepsy or Head Injury. Moreover students with single parent (either due to
parental separation or divorce or expired) were not considered for the study. It was a cross-sectional
correlational design and purposive sampling was followed. Among the sample there were 122
(37.65%) males and 202 (62.34%) females and 170 (59%) consisted of class 11 students and 116
(41%) of them consisted of class 12 students (Table 1). The mean age of the sample was 16.51 (table
2).
Tools
1. Socio-Demographic Data Sheet: It is a semi structured Performa. It contained information
about socio-demographic variables like name, age, education, class, number of siblings, stream
in which he/she is studying, name of father and mother, address, telephone number and email
address. Information was taken so as to ensure that the participant was living with his/her
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parents, with both parents living and the participant didnt have a history of any physical,
psychological or neurological problems.
2. Test attitude Inventory (Speilberger, C.D. 1980): The Test Anxiety Inventory (TAI) is a selfreport inventory designed to measure test anxiety (TA) as a situation-specific personality trait.
The TAI is recommended for use in research and clinical settings. The Test Anxiety Inventory
was designed to measure the worry and emotionality components of test anxiety. It has a 4point Likert type scale in responding to the eight items used to assess each component
(Speilberger, C.D. 1980) presented average Cronbach alpha reliability coefficients for five
normative samples of .88 for the worry component and .90 for the emotionality component.
Test-retest coefficients for a high school student sample varied from .81 (a 1-month delay) to
.62 (a 6-month delay). Correlations with five other anxiety measures (ranging from .51 to.82)
were cited as evidence of validity.
3. Emotional Intelligence (Nicholas Schuttle 1998): The self-report questionnaire by Schutte et
al (1998) comprises 33 self-referencing statements and requires subjects to rate the extent they
agree or disagree
Procedure
Initially permission was obtained from principals and school authorities of four Higher Secondary
Schools in Kolkata from where data was collected. There after informed consent was taken from
student after considering the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The students were explained the purpose
of the study. To ensure full cooperation it, was emphasized that anonymity would be ensured and they
need not write names. They were also reassured that none of results would be disclosed with the school
authorities. They were then asked individually to fill the Questionnaire booklet which contained SocioDemographic Data Sheet followed by Test-Anxiety Scale and Emotional Intelligence Scale. The
scoring of the tools was done as per the test manuals. The results were tabulated. The data was
analysed with SPSS program and parametric Pearsons Product Moment correlation and Regression
was done.
Results
The mean and S.D. of the variables are as follows, test anxiety (M = 39.49; SD =10.78), emotionality
(M = 17.44; SD =5.33), worry (M = 15.75; SD =5.92), emotional intelligence (M = 121.50; SD
=22.17). (Table 3).
Pearsons product-moment correlation was computed to determine the linear relationships
among emotionality, worry and emotional intelligence. The correlations showed significance between
test emotional intelligence and test anxiety (r = -.176, p < .05), emotionality and worry (r = -.251, p <
.01), there is no significant correlation between emotional intelligence and emotionality (r = -.100, p =
not significant) (Table 4). This shows that despite there exists a significant correlation between
emotional intelligence and test anxiety as a whole there is no significant correlation between emotional
intelligence and emotionality, there exists significant negative correlation between emotional
intelligence and worry. Correlations showed that there is a negative relationship between emotional
intelligence and its different dimensions.
Table 5 shows the regression table of emotional intelligence for worry dimension. Here we find
that emotional intelligence (beta = -.157; p = .005) have emerged as possible predictors for worry
dimension of test anxiety, it explained 2.5 % of the variance.
Table 6 shows the regression table of emotional intelligence for emotionality dimension worry.
Here we find that emotional intelligence (beta = -.070; p = .207) have not emerged predictor for
emotionality dimension of test anxiety.
Table 7 presents the mean and S.D. of males and females for emotionality, worry and
emotional intelligence. For males the mean and S.D. are 17.62 (5.24), 19.26 (5.60) and 38.742 (11.41)
for emotionality, worry and emotional intelligence respectively. For females the mean and S.D. are
17.48 (5.44), 12.93 (4.65) and 40.475 (9.939) for emotionality and worry and emotional intelligence
respectively. Data distinguished between of scores of different variables among males and females.
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Significant difference was observed in case of worry and emotional intelligence. T-tests indicated a
significant difference among males and females among the following variables, worry (t = 7.759, p =
.000 and emotional intelligence (t = -4.361, p = .047). (Table 7).
Discussion
Based on the results of the previous studies showing that emotional intelligence is related to
performance we have studied what kind of relationship exists between emotional intelligence and test
anxiety, as we know that test anxiety is a factor that leads to poor performance. This study has
provided us with interesting results. In this study it is found that there is a significant negative
correlation between emotional intelligence and test anxiety, although considering the dimensions we
find emotional intelligence only bears a significant negative relationship between worry dimension of
test anxiety but not with emotionality. This shows that the two dimensions of test anxiety is not related
with the same factors and do not operate in the same way. Emotional intelligence influences the worry
component of test anxiety which mainly deals means worrisome thoughts about examination.
Moreover it is found that there exists significant negative correlation between emotional intelligence
and worry dimension of test anxiety and also emotional intelligence significantly predicts worry.
According to Goleman "emotional intelligence is comprised of the abilities such as being able to
motivate one and persists in the face of frustration; to control impulse and delay gratification; to
regulate one's moods and keep distress from swamping the ability to think; to empathise and to hope"
(Goleman, 1998). This means that emotional intelligence influences the worry component that is
characterized by thoughts about the examination situation and thinking about doing poorly or
consequences of failing whereas emotionality is not correlated with emotional intelligence.
Initially test anxiety was thought to be unidimensional but critical distinction was introduced
by Liebert and Morris (1967), explaining the bi-dimensional nature of test anxiety by differentiating
two major components of test anxiety: a cognitive component they labeled "worry," that referred to
concerns about being evaluated and about the consequences of failure, and an affective component
they labeled "emotionality," that referred to the perception of autonomic reactions evoked by the test
situation. Apart from demonstrating the two components, Morris and Liebert (1970) demonstrated that
they show differential relationships with performance. When partial correlations were computed to
control for the high overlap between the two components, worry was related to low performance, but
emotionality was not. This shows that although worry and emotionality are dimensions of the same
construct Test Anxiety, they are not influenced by various factors in the same way. Previous studies
have also identified factors that are associated with the worry component but such factors for
emotionality was not found, which leaves the question open research still needs to be conducted to find
the underlying factors that may influence the emotionality dimension of test anxiety.
Significant differences found between male and female with respect to worry dimension and
emotional intelligence. It is found that males have higher scores both in case of worry and emotionality
dimension but males has lower scores in case of emotional intelligence. This means that males have
high scores on test anxiety dimensions than females and contrary to this females have higher emotional
intelligence scores than males. This further show that as females have higher emotional intelligence
scores have lower emotional and worry scores in test anxiety.
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Self-efficacy and Achievement of University Students. Psychology and Developing Societies, Vol.
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Anton, W.D. & Lillibridge, E.M. (1995) Case studies of test anxious students. In C.D. Speilberger &
P.R. Vagg (Eds.) Test anxiety: Theory, Assessment and Treatment (pp. 61-78). Bristol: Taylor &
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Beidel, C. D., Turner, W. M. & Karen, T. N. (1994). Test anxiety and childhood disorders in AfricanAmerican and white school children. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 8(2), 169-174.

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Besharat, Mohammad Ali, Behzad Shalchi and Hamid Shamsipoor (2006); The Study of Relationship
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APPENDICES
Table 1: Distribution of Socio-Demographic characteristics of study sample
Adolescents (N=143)
Socio-Demographic Details
Frequency
Percentage (%)
Sex
Male
122
37.65
Female
202
62.34
Class
11 class
170
59
12 class
116
41
Table 2: Mean and SD of Socio Demographic Variables
Socio-Demographic Details
Age
Sex
Table 3: Mean and SD of the Variables
Variables
Test-Anxiety
Emotionality
Worry
Emotional Intelligence

N
162
162
162
162

N
324
324

Mean
16.51
1.55

S.D.
.922
.498

Mean
39.492
17.44
15.75
121.507

S.D.
10.789
5.33
5.92
22.175

Table 4: Correlation between different dimensions of test anxiety and emotional intelligence
Variables
1
2
3
4
Test anxiety
.907**
.771**
-.176*
Emotionality
.907**
.585**
-.100
Worry
.771**
.585**
-.251**
Emotional Intelligence
-.176*
-.100
-.251**
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed)
*. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed)
Table 5: The Results of a Multiple Regression Analysis for Emotional intelligence predicting
Worry dimension of Test Anxiety.
Variable
R2
Standardized Beta
t
p (two-tailed)
Emotional Intelligence
.025
-.157
-2.855
.005
Table 6: The Results of a Multiple Regression Analysis for Emotional intelligence predicting
Emotionality dimension of Test Anxiety.
Variable
R2
Standardized Beta
t
p (two-tailed)
Emotional Intelligence
.005
-.070
-1.264
.207
Table 7: Results of t-test for emotionality, worry and
Females.
Variables
Males
Mean
S.D.
Emotionality
17.622
5.247
Worry
19.262
5.609
Emotional intelligence
38.742
11.41

emotional intelligence between Males and

Females
Mean
17.485
12.930
40.475

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S.D.
5.445
4.652
9.939

Sig

.158
7.759
-4.361

.875
.000
.047

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