Laurin-Barantke L, Hoyer J, Fehm L, Knappe S. Oral but not written test anxiety is related to social anxiety. World J Psychiatr 2016; 6(3): 351-357 [PMID: 27679775 DOI: 10.5498/wjp.v6.i3.351]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Dr. Susanne Knappe, PD, Dipl, Psych, Institute of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Technische Universität Dresden, Chemnitzer Str. 46, 01187 Dresden, Germany. susanne.knappe@tu-dresden.de
Research Domain of This Article
Psychiatry
Article-Type of This Article
Retrospective Study
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Psychiatr. Sep 22, 2016; 6(3): 351-357 Published online Sep 22, 2016. doi: 10.5498/wjp.v6.i3.351
Oral but not written test anxiety is related to social anxiety
Lisa Laurin-Barantke, Jürgen Hoyer, Lydia Fehm, Susanne Knappe
Lisa Laurin-Barantke, Jürgen Hoyer, Institute of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Technische Universität Dresden, 01187 Dresden, Germany
Lydia Fehm, Center for Psychotherapy (ZPHU), Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, 10179 Berlin, Germany
Susanne Knappe, Institute of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Center for Preventive Intervention Studies, Technische Universität Dresden, 01187 Dresden, Germany
Author contributions: Laurin-Barantke L and Knappe S conceptualized and designed the study; Laurin-Barantke L was responsible for data collection; Laurin-Barantke L and Knappe analyzed the data and interpreted the results; Laurin-Barantke L, Hoyer J, Fehm L and Knappe S helped to draft the manuscript; Hoyer J and Fehm L critically revised the manuscript related to important intellectual consent; all authors approved the manuscript for submission and publication.
Institutional review board statement: The study was reviewed and approved by the ethics committee of the TU Dresden (EK-NR. 205062013).
Informed consent statement: All study participants provided informed written consent prior to study enrollment.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors declare no conflict of interest.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available. The statistical methods of this study were reviewed by Michael Höfler and the corresponding author, at the Institute of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Technische Universität Dresden.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Dr. Susanne Knappe, PD, Dipl, Psych, Institute of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Technische Universität Dresden, Chemnitzer Str. 46, 01187 Dresden, Germany. susanne.knappe@tu-dresden.de
Telephone: +49-351-46339727 Fax: +49-351-46336984
Received: May 17, 2016 Peer-review started: May 19, 2016 First decision: July 5, 2016 Revised: July 15, 2016 Accepted: July 29, 2016 Article in press: July 30, 2016 Published online: September 22, 2016 Processing time: 124 Days and 18 Hours
Abstract
AIM
To examine the associations of test anxiety (TA) in written vs oral exam situations with social anxiety (SA).
METHODS
A convenience sample of 204 students was recruited at the Technische Universität Dresden (TU Dresden, Germany) and contacted via e-mail asking to complete a cross-sectional online survey based on established questionnaires. The study protocol was approved by the ethics committee of the TU Dresden. Full data of n = 96 students were available for dependent t-tests and correlation analyses on the associations of SA and TA respectively with trigger events, cognitions, safety behaviors, physical symptoms and depersonalization. Analyses were run using SPSS.
RESULTS
Levels of TA were higher for fear in oral exams than for fear in written exams (M = 48.1, SD = 11.5 vs M = 43.7, SD = 10.1 P < 0.001). Oral TA and SA were positively correlated (Spearman’s r = 0.343, P < 0.001; Pearson’s r = 0.38, P < 0.001) contrasting written TA and SA (Spearman’s r = 0.17, P > 0.05; Pearson’s r = 0.223, P > 0.05). Compared to written TA, trigger events were more often reported for oral TA (18.2% vs 30.3%, P = 0.007); which was also accompanied more often by test-anxious cognitions (7.9% vs 8.5%, P = 0.001), safety behavior (8.9% vs 10.3%, P < 0.001) and physical symptoms (for all, P < 0.001).
CONCLUSION
Written, but not oral TA emerged being unrelated to SA and may rather not be considered as a typical facet of SA disorder.
Core tip: In a convenience student sample, levels of test anxiety (TA) were higher for fear in oral exams than for fear in written exams. Oral TA and social anxiety (SA) were positively correlated, contrasting written TA and SA. Compared to written TA, trigger events were more often reported for oral TA; which was also accompanied more often by test-anxious cognitions, safety behavior and physical symptoms. Results point to overlaps between oral TA and SA. Since written TA appeared unrelated to SA, it may rather not be considered as a typical facet of SA.
