The Mediating Role of Academic Self-Efficacy and Self-Esteem in the Relationship between Learning Styles and Test Anxiety in Female Students

Anxiety is among the most frequent problems in students. In addition to creating academic problems, it may also generate behavioral complications. Test anxiety could be induced by several reasons, such as environmental (e.g., school and family environment & peers), and intrapersonal characteristics. Overlooking the contributing factors that induce test anxiety can lead to individual and social risks for students and families, including high financial costs, academic failure, and learning disabilities. Therefore, it is essential to address this issue. The present study aimed at determining the mediating role of academic self–efficacy and self–esteem in the relationship between learning styles and test anxiety in Iranian 11th–grade female students.

This was a correlational study. The study population consisted of all 11th–grade female students living in Tabriz City, Iran, in the 2019–2020 academic year. The study sample consisted of 430 students who were randomly selected in 3 stages. Initially, the third district out of 5 educational districts was randomly selected. Next, 5 schools were randomly selected from this area. Finally, volunteer eligible students were selected as the research sample. The inclusion criteria included female gender; no mental health disorders; willingness to participate in the study; residing in Tabriz City, and not receiving pharmacotherapy for biopsychological conditions. The study participants who failed to complete the questionnaires were excluded from this study. Data collection tools were the Test Anxiety Questionnaire (Abolghasemi et al., 1996), Academic Self–Efficacy Scale (Midgley et al., 2000), Kolb Learning Style Inventory (Kolb & Kolb, 2005), and Rosenberg Self–Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965). Gender, grade, and age were considered as the control variables. For statistical analysis, descriptive statistical procedures (e.g., mean & SD), and inferential statistics, including Spearman's rank correlation coefficient were employed in SPSS. To assess the model's goodness of fit, structural equations were conducted using AMOS via the asymptotic distribution–free procedure. This is because the obtained data were not normally distributed and this procedure was not sensitive to the abnormality of distribution. The significance level of all tests was set at 0.05.

Based on the Spearman test data, there was no relationship between self–esteem, visual learning style, reflective observation, and experimentalism (p>0.05). There was a positive relationship between academic self–efficacy and self–esteem (r=0.26, p<0.001). There was a negative relationship between test anxiety and visual learning style (r= –0.53, p<0.001); a positive and significant relationship between test anxiety and abstract learning style (r=0.52, p<0.001), and a positive and significant relationship between test anxiety and experimental learning style (r=0.39, p<0.001). The goodness of fit results revealed that the direct effect of learning styles was not significant on self–esteem (β=–0.02, p=0.67). The direct effect of self–esteem was significant on academic self–efficacy (β=0.19, p=0.001). Learning styles significantly impacted academic self–efficacy (β=–0.14, p=0.006). Academic self–efficacy significantly influenced test anxiety (β=0.13, p=0.001). Additionally, the effect of self–esteem was significant on test anxiety (β=–0.07, p=0.04); learning style also presented a significant effect on test anxiety (β=0.62, p=0.001). The indirect effect of self–esteem on test anxiety was not significant (p=0.500); neither was the total effect of self–esteem on test anxiety (p=0.486). The indirect effects of learning styles were not significant on test anxiety either (p=0.517). The total effect of learning styles was also insignificant on test anxiety (p=0.482). Furthermore, the study results revealed that the research model had acceptable goodness of fit (AGFI=0.96, RMSEA=0.054).

Teachers and school counselors can reduce students' test anxiety by improving their academic self–efficacy as well as experimental, abstract, and objective learning styles.