Oral but not written test anxiety is related to social anxiety

Table 1 Description of full and partial responders

	Complete responders (n = 99)1		Partial responders (n = 22)2		χ2 test
	n	%	n	%
Sex					0.290
Males	25	26	8	36.4
Females	74	74	14	63.6
Age (M, SD)	22.9 (3.6)		23.0 (2.6)		0.573
Branch of study					0.297
Mechanical engineering	9	9.4	2	9.1
Psychology	32	33.3	6	27.3
Sociology	5	5.2	4	18.2
Medicine	34	35.4	6	27.3
Architecture	6	6.3	1	4.5
Biology	7	7.3	1	4.5
Other	6	6.3	2	9.1
Degree of study					0.814
Diploma	31	32.3	7	31.8
Bachelor	33	34.4	9	40.9
Master	2	2.1	0	0.0
State exam	33	34.4	6	27.3
Number of days since last exam
Written exam (M, SD)	51.1 (69.0)		51.3 (63.5)		0.920
Oral exam (M, SD)	253.7 (342.8)		406.1 (518.5)		0.468
Probable social anxiety disorder
SSQ	14	14.1	5	22.7	0.317
LSAS-anxiety (M, SD)	15.6 (10.5)		13.0 (10.0)		0.366
LSAS-avoidance (M, SD)	13.6 (10.2)		11.9 (12.1)		0.574
Probable test-anxiety
Written exam LSAS-anxiety (M, SD)	1.1 (0.8)		0.9 (0.8)		0.804
Written exam LSAS-avoidance (M, SD)	0.2 (0.6)		0.3 (0.6)		0.550
Oral exam LSAS-anxiety (M, SD)	1.8 (1.0)		1.5 (1.1)		0.566
Oral exam LSAS-avoidance (M, SD)	0.2 (0.6)		0.3 (0.9)		0.619

¹Data of additional 3 participants were not used since they did not report any fear or avoidance of social situations and thus were not asked about trigger events, test anxiety, cognitions, behavior, depersonalization and physical symptoms due to skip rules;

²Data of additional 14 participants were not used since they did not give written informed consent. M: Mean; SD: Standard deviation; SSQ: Symptom screening questionnaire; LSAS: Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (subscales for severity of social anxiety and avoidance of social situations).

Table 2 Reliability of scales and measures (n = 96)

		α
Social anxiety	LSAS anxiety subscale	0.914
	LSAS avoidance subscale	0.897
	SPK	0.926
	SPV	0.821
	BSPS-G physical subscale	0.737
	CDS-9 frequency subscale	0.848
Written test anxiety	PAF	0.897
	TAC	0.884
	TAB	0.780
	BSPS-G, physical subscale	0.775
	CDS-9 frequency subscale	0.911
Oral test anxiety	PAF	0.906
	TAC	0.888
	TAB	0.811
	BSPS-G, physical subscale	0.756
	CDS-9 frequency subscale	0.919

α: Cronbach‘s α; LSAS: Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale; SPV: FragebogenzusozialphobischemVerhalten (Questionnaire for Social Phobic Behavior); BSPS-G: Brief Social Phobia Scale, German Version; CDS-9: Cambridge Depersonalisation Scale; PAF: Prüfungsangstfragebogen (test anxiety questionnaire); TAC: Test anxious cognitions (generic questionnaire); TAB: Test anxious coping and safety behavior (generic questionnaire).

Table 3 Convergent and discriminant validity of scales and measures

	LSAS anxiety subscale	LSAS avoidance subscale	PAF written	PAF oral	TAC written	TAC oral	TAB written	TAB oral
Oral PAF	0.379d	0.304d	0.663d	1	0.625d	0.806d	0.332d	0.442d
Written PAF	0.223b	0.167	1	0.663d	0.770d	0.650d	0.467d	0.236b
SPK	0.673d	0.592d	0.283d	0.453d	0.425d	0.562d	NE	NE
SPV	0.701d	0.678d	0.425d	0.524d	NE	NE	0.301d	0.412d
CDS-9 frequency subscale social	0.338d	0.320d	0.323d	0.311d		NE	NE	NE
CDS-9 frequency subscale written	0.274d	0.306d	0.398d	0.383d	NE	NE	NE	NE
CDS-9 frequency subscale oral	0.390d	0.341d	0.337d	0.488d	NE	NE	NE	NE
Tremor social	0.322d	0.352d	0.258b	0.223b	NE	NE	NE	NE
Sweating social	0.351d	0.298d	0.200	0.311d	NE	NE	NE	NE
Blushing social	0.242b	0.115	0.218b	0.278d	NE	NE	NE	NE
Palpitation social	0.379d	0.351d	0.206b	0.313d	NE	NE	NE	NE
Tremor written	0.294d	0.141	0.640d	0.452d	NE	NE	NE	NE
Sweating written	0.096	0.028	0.484d	0.361d	NE	NE	NE	NE
Blushing written	-0.099	-0.094	0.137	0.201b	NE	NE	NE	NE
Palpitation written	0.168	0.050	0.657d	0.488d	NE	NE	NE	NE
Tremor oral	0.289d	0.151	0.488d	0.608d	NE	NE	NE	NE
Sweating oral	0.182	0.048	0.291d	0.434d	NE	NE	NE	NE
Blushing oral	0.120	-0.060	0.189	0.332d	NE	NE	NE	NE
Palpitation oral	0.172	0.054	0.499d	0.612d	NE	NE	NE	NE

Pearson‘s correlation coefficient

^bP < 0.005, two-tailed

^dP < 0.001, two-tailed. NE: Not estimated; CSD-9: Cambridge Depersonalisation Scale-9 items; LSAS: Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale;PAF: Prüfungsangstfragebogen. SPK Fragebogen zu sozialphobischen Kognitionen; SPV Fragebogen zu sozialphobischem Verhalten.

Table 4 Frequencies of social anxiety, written or oral test anxiety and depersonalization n = 96

Social anxiety disorder and test anxiety	n	%
Overall
Social anxiety disorder	12	12.5
Written test anxiety	13	13.5
Oral test anxiety	28	29.2
Isolated conditions
Social anxiety disorder	4	4.2
Written test anxiety	2	2.1
Oral test anxiety	14	14.6
Co-occurrence of conditions
Written and oral test anxiety	7	7.3
Social anxiety disorder and written test anxiety	1	1
Social anxiety disorder and oral test anxiety	4	4.2
Social anxiety disorder, written and oral test anxiety	3	3.1
Symptoms of depersonalization/derealization
Social situations	13	13.5
Written exams	8	8.3
Oral exams	11	11.5

Social anxiety disorder was assessed using the anxiety subscale of the LSAS and test anxiety was assessed using the PAF. Symptoms of depersonalization/derealization were measured using the CDS-9. LSAS: Liebowitz social anxiety scale; PAF: Prüfungsangstfragebogen.

Table 5 Clinical correlates of test anxiety in written and oral exams (n = 96)

	Test anxiety
	Written	Oral
	M (SD)	M (SD)	Δ (SD)	95%CI	df	t	P
Test anxiety	43.66 (10.12)	48.12 (11.52)	-4.46 (8.98)	(-6.28, -2.64)	95	-4.86	< 0.001
Test-anxious cognitions	20.02 (7.89)	21.72 (8.49)	-1.69 (4.71)	(-2.65, -0.74)	95	-3.53	0.001
Test-anxious behavior	39.00 (8.99)	44.57 (10.34)	-5.57 (6.74)	(-6.94, -4.21)	95	-8.11	< 0.001
Any trigger event (n, %)	18 (18.2%)	30 (30.3%)	-12 (-)	(0.036, 0.214)	95	2.775	0.007
Symptoms of DP/DR	2.71 (4.71)	3.167 (5.22)	-.46 (2.85)	(-1.04, 0.12)	95	-1.58	0.118
Blushing	0.27 (0.62)	1.17 (1.19)	-0.90 (1.00)	(-1.10, -0.69)	95	-8.78	< 0.001
Palpitation	1.47 (1.05)	2.11 (1.11)	-0.65 (0.78)	(-0.80, -0.49)	95	-8.1	< 0.001
Tremor	0.70 (0.95)	1.33 (1.26)	-0.64 (0.94)	(-0.83, -0.45)	95	-6.61	< 0.001
Sweating	1.22 (1.05)	1.81 (1.14)	-0.59 (0.87)	(-0.77, -0.42)	95	-6.72	< 0.001

All values represent raw, non-standardized scores. Test anxiety was measured using the PAF. Test-anxious cognitions were assessed using a generic questionnaire. Test-anxious coping and safety behavior was assessed using a generic questionnaire. Symptoms of depersonalization/derealization were measured with the CDS-9. Blushing, palpitation, tremor and sweating were assessed using the respective item of the BSPS-G. P two-tailed at P < 0.05; CI: Confidence interval; df: Degrees of freedom; t: t-value; DP/DR: Symptoms of depersonalization/derealization; PAF: Prüfungsangstfragebogen; BSPS-G: German “Brief Social Phobia Scale”.