Predictive Effect of Self-Regulation and Academic SelfEfficacy on the Test Anxiety: The Mediating Role of Academic Procrastination

Introduction Anxiety and its related factors have been among the most widespread research domains in therecent decades. Anxiety is a mood-dependent phenomenon that often occurs without the presence of its stimulus and, thereby, affects behaviors and feelings. Anxiety sometimes appears mildly and naturally, and usually leads to an increase in motivation for the fulfillment of the activities. Occasionally, it is also manifested in a severe form and affects the person's whole life (Banga, 2016). Test anxiety is one type of anxiety that prevents students from acting effectively and efficiently and, thereby, is an obstacle to the optimal academic performance (Bozkurt, Ekitli, Thomas & Cassady, 2017). The studies conducted in the area of test anxiety and its consequences indicate that test anxiety is one of the serious obstacles to student's academic achievements and the most weakening factor of academic performance in all programs while it has been reported to prevail among 10 to 41% of students (Huberty, 2009; Whitaker Sena, Lowe, & Lee, 2007), and 15% of students experience it usually in a very serious mode (Putwain & Daly, 2014). Rupani et al. (2016) believe that although low levels of anxiety before the exam can trigger the examinee's ability, excessive anxiety can interfere with the person's ability and function and may bring about unpleasant consequences, such as increased inability and decreased function, digestive problems, headaches, and other physical and psychological side effects. Therefore, considering the complexity of the factors influencing anxiety, the present study sought to examine the cognitive, motivational, and behavioral components of test anxiety. Hence, self-regulation, self-efficacy, and procrastination were respectively analyzed as the cognitive, motivational, and behavioral components of test anxiety in the form of a causative model. It is noteworthy that the review of the related literature reveals that almost no research has investigated the relationship between these variables in the form of a single model. Accordingly, regarding the high prevalence of test anxiety and the need to pay attention to the effective variables in reducing it, the present study aims to examine some part of the complex and multifaceted nature of test anxiety. In addition, this study intends to assess some correlates and predictors of test anxiety through a structured model based on the direct roles of self-regulation and academic self-efficacy variables, and also through the mediating role of academic procrastination so that the contribution and importance of each one in the prediction of test anxiety can be determined.
Research question This study attempted to answer the following research questions: 1. Is self-regulation a negative predictor of test anxiety? 2. Is self-efficacy a negative predictor of test anxiety? 3. Is self-regulation a negative predictor of procrastination? 4. Is self-efficacy a negative predictor of procrastination? 5. Is procrastination a positive predictor of test anxiety? 6. Does procrastination play a mediating role between self-regulation and test anxiety? 7. Does procrastination play a mediating role between self-efficacy and test anxiety?
Method The present study falls within the category of correlational studies wherein the relationship between variables was evaluated in a model through path analysis method. To this end, self-regulation and academic self-efficacy were considered as the exogenous variables of the model, academic procrastination was regarded as the mediator variable, and test anxiety was considered as the endogenous variable of the model. Relative stratified sampling method was used to select the participants where the faculty and academic program were regarded as the strata. In this regard, the number of students in 17 faculties of Semnan University was extracted according to the statistics of the General Education Department. Then, 443 students were selected by stratified random sampling in proportion to the size of the faculties and academic programs and filled out the research questionnaires. From among these participants, 179 ones (59.6%) were male and 264 ones (40.45%) were female. Magno Academic Self-Regulated Learning Scale, Muris Academic Self-Efficacy Scale, Solomon, Rothblum Academic Procrastination, and Pintrich and De Groot Test Anxiety Scale were used as the data collection instruments in this study. The data were analyzed by Pearson correlation test and path analysis in SPSS and LISREL software.
Results The results of data analysis indicated that the model has a good fit with the research data, and it was revealed that self-regulation and academic self-efficacy predicted test anxiety both directly and indirectly (through the mediation of academic procrastination). In this regard, self-regulation and academic self-efficacy had significant negative relationships with test anxiety, but procrastination had a significant positive relationship with test anxiety.
Discussion On the whole, it can be claimed that the promotion of self-regulation and growth of selfefficacy beliefs may lead to a reduction in academic procrastination, may provide the grounds for student's endeavors and efforts to reach success and play a significant role in reducing student's test anxiety. In general, the research findings showed that self-regulation, self-efficacy, and procrastination play a detrmining role in predicting test anxiety. Therefore, student counselors and authorities are recommended to focus their efforts to increase student's self-regulation and academic self-efficacy. In this way, procrastination and test anxiety are reduced in students, and they can obtain academic achievements in consequence.