TEST ANXIETY AND ITS EFFECT ON THE PERSONALITY OF STUDENTS WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES Dubi Lufi, Susan Okasha, and Arie Cohen Abstract. The purpose of this study was to look for personality variables that characterized young adults with learning dis- abilities and test anxiety. Fifty-four Israeli adults diagnosed with learning disabilities participated in the study, 24 of them were diagnosed as having test anxiety; 30 did not have test anxiety. The participants completed the Test Anxiety Inventory (TAI) to validate the diagnosis of test anxiety and the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) to assess the differ- ent personality profiles. The results showed significant differences between the two groups on 35 out of 68 measures of the MMPI-2. A discriminant-function analysis of the content scales, the supple- mentary scales, and the Harris-Lingoes scales of the MMPI-2 showed that one measure, College Maladjustment, explained most of the variance. Further analysis assessed the various test anxiety profiles of the two types of test anxiety, “emotionality” and “worry.” The meaning of the results is discussed as a basis for explaining the profile of a student with learning disabilities and test anxiety. DUBI LUFI, Ph.D., is associate professor, Department of Behavioral Sciences, Emek Yizreel College, Israel. SUSAN OKASHA, Emek Yizreel College, Israel. ARIE COHEN is professor, Bar-Ilan University, Israel. Anxiety is probably one of the most researched Test Anxiety human traits in recent years. Hundreds of articles have Test anxiety affects people in every field of life, when- been published on this topic in almost every profes- ever people of all ages have to be evaluated, assessed, sional journal. It is common to divide anxiety into two and graded with regard to their abilities, achievements, domains: trait anxiety and state anxiety, a classification or interests. Birenbaum and Nasser (1994) claimed that first made by Spielberger (1972). Trait anxiety is an test anxiety has become one of the most disruptive fac- individual tendency to perceive various situations as tors in school and other settings where testing is per- dangerous and threatening. State anxiety, in turn, is the formed. It has been estimated that 30% of all students perception of an emotional situation as unpleasant suffer from various levels of test anxiety (Shaked, 1996). accompanied by a physiological reaction connected Spielberger (1972) describes test anxious people as follows: to the autonomic nervous system. Test anxiety, the In essence, high test-anxious persons are character- focus of this study, is one form of state anxiety. ized by acquired habits and attitudes that involve Learning Disability Quarterly 176 negative self-perceptions and expectations. These 1980). In addition, it causes emotional suffering (Ben- self-deprecating habits and attitudes dispose Dov, 1992). test-anxious persons to experience fear and height- A somewhat different viewpoint was presented by ened physiological activity in situations such as Einat (2000), who claimed that severe test anxiety is examinations in which they are being evaluated, caused by high personal standards of persons who and influence the manner in which they interpret expect maximum success and are afraid that they can- and respond to events in the environment. (p. 14) not meet their own standards. It has been proven that Other researchers have defined additional dimen- test-anxious students see the test situation as threaten- sions of test anxiety. For example, Hong (1998) claimed ing, and often react by worrying and thinking irrele- that test anxiety is “a complex multidimensional vant thoughts that interfere with effective performance construct involving cognitive, affective, physiological, (Liebert & Morris, 1967; Tobias, 1985; Wine, 1982). and behavioral reactions to evaluative situations” Additional findings concerning the negative effects of (p. 51). Sarason (1984) divided test anxiety into the fol- test anxiety on large percentages of those placed in test- lowing four dimensions: worry, tension, test-irrelevant ing situations may be found elsewhere (for a review, thinking, and bodily symptoms. Liebert and Morris see Hembree, 1988; Seipp, 1991). (1967) used a two-dimensional conceptualization to The negative influence of test anxiety on school define test anxiety as consisting of two major elements: performance is found already at a young age. For worry and emotionality. example, Hill and Sarason (1966) reported that highly Using Liebert and Morris’ (1967) two-dimensional test-anxious children were two years behind in basic construct, Spielberger and colleagues (1980) con- reading and arithmetic skills by the end of elementary structed their Test Anxiety Inventory (TAI). To date, the school, probably because of the test anxiety they TAI remains the most popular measure of test anxiety experienced. Plass and Hill (1986) claimed that high- used in clinical work and research. The TAI constructs anxious children when tested under time pressure of worry and emotionality are defined as follows: often do the tests too quickly which, in turn, results in (a) “Worry” is cognitive distress connected to the test- low grades in standard testing conditions. Others have ing situation; it consists of negative performance found that test anxiety is associated with depressed aca- expectations or worry about the testing situation; and demic performance (Bryan, Sonnefeld, & Grabowski, (b) “Emotionality” is the affective dimension; it refers 1983; Guttman, 1987; Zatz & Chassin, 1985). to the physical reactions of students to the testing situ- ation. Examples of such a reaction can be nervousness, Learning Disabilities fear, and physical discomfort. In theory, these two Learning disabilities (LD) affect 2%-10% of the pop- anxiety facets are independent even though they have ulation (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual-4th edition; fairly high correlations (Deffenbacher, 1980; Morris, DSM-IV, 1994). Learning disabilities have been invest- Davis, & Hutchings, 1981). The TAI has been widely igated extensively in the areas of definition, diagnosis, discussed in the literature (e.g., Benson & Bandalos and treatment. Considerably less attention has been 1992; Nasser & Takahashi 1996; O’Neil & Fukumura, given to the effect of LD on personality structure. 1992; Zeidner & Nevo 1992). Johnson and Blalock (1987) found that adults with In her cognitive-attentional theory of test anxiety, LD had difficulties with self-concept and social accept- Wine (1971, 1982) claimed that the negative influence ance. Similarly, various studies have shown that stu- of test anxiety is due to the fact that test-anxious per- dents with LD have a negative self-concept (Write & sons divide their attention between personal variables Stimmel, 1984), poor interpersonal skills (La Greca, and variables connected to the task. In contrast, non- 1987), and frail ego structures (Gaddes, 1985). Other test-anxious persons are able to focus their attention studies found various personality deficiencies in children more on the task itself. Among test-anxious students with LD, such as more external locus of control (Bendel, these differences lead to a reduced ability to deal with Tollefson, & Fine, 1980; Hallahan, Gajar, Cohen, & cognitive tasks. Tarver, 1978; Tarnowski & Nay, 1989; Tollefson, Tracy, Another model explaining the poor performance of Johnson, & Borgers, 1979), and higher anxiety levels, test-anxious students is the “deficit in study skills” withdrawal, depression, low self-esteem, more rejection model (Paulman & Kennelly, 1984; Wittmaier, 1972). by others, and fewer social skills (see review by Noel, This model views the low performance of test-anxious Hoy, King, Moreland, & Meera, 1992). Thus, it seems students as stemming from their deficient knowledge that learning disabilities have a lifelong impact on the of the school material and their awareness that they are personality of the children and adults they affect. not well prepared for the test. Test anxiety reduces the Only a few studies have used the Minnesota performance of those who experience it (Sarason, Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) with its Volume 27, Summer 2004 177 various versions to assess test anxiety. When Noel et al. Despite such far-reaching personality implications, (1992) used the MMPI-2 to investigate the profile of this topic has not been investigated thoroughly adults with LD, they raised the question of whether enough in the research literature; and despite the pop- there are any specific personality profiles for individu- ularity of the topic of test anxiety among researchers als with learning disabilities. They found that students and the extensive attention given to the topic of learn- with LD in two settings – a rehabilitation setting and a ing disability, not much attention has been paid to university – differed from the normative college popu- their combined effect on the personality of those who lation in short- and long-term stress leading to anxiety. suffer from them. In addition, each group of LD individuals had its The purpose of the present study was to explore the unique personality characteristics. Turner (1996) found personality structure of a specific population of adults that anxiety measured by the Fears content scale of the who had both LD and test anxiety compared to a popu- MMPI explained significantly measures of immediate lation of other adults with LD but no test anxiety. and delayed visual memory scores. In contrast, other