Behavioural and Psychological Functions of Test Anxiety Among Undergraduates in the University of Port Harcourt (Published)
Correlational research design was adopted in the study with the aim of finding out behavioural and psychological functions of test anxiety among undergraduates in the University of Port Harcourt. The population for the study consisted of six hundred (600) undergraduate students from the twelve (12) faculties in University of Port Harcourt. Samples of 404 undergraduate students identified with test anxiety were drawn using the census sampling in the study. Two instruments were used in the study which included the “Behavioural and Psychological Variables Questionnaire (BPVQ) and the “Test Anxiety Scale” (TAS). Validity of the instruments were determined using two experts in measurement while Cronbach alpha () technique was used to determine the reliability indices of 0.70 and 0.77 for “BPVQ” and “TAS” respectively. Data analysis was done using simple regression. Findings showed that academic procrastination (p=0.003<0.05), self-esteem (p=0.031<0.05) and self-concept (p=0.000<0.05), were all significantly related to test anxiety among students. Based on this, it was recommended among others that teachers should develop time management and organization skills training for the students and encourage them to break tasks into manageable chunks.
Keywords: Self-Concept, Test anxiety, academic procrastination. self-esteem, test