Investigating the Mediating role of Academic Procrastination in the Relationship between Metacognitive Strategies and Test Anxiety

The present study was conducted with the aim of investigating the mediating role of academic procrastination in the relationship between metacognitive strategies and test anxiety. The method was descriptive-correlational. The statistical population of the research consisted of 1142 secondary school female students in Chaboksar, out of which 209 were selected via random cluster sampling to form the sample size. T collect the data, Friedman’s (1997) test anxiety questionnaire with a reliability coefficient of 0.84, academic procrastination (2011) with reliability coefficient of 0.81 and Wells and Hutton's metacognitive strategies (1994) with reliability coefficient of 0.86 were used. The validity of the instruments was verified by academic experts and their reliability was also tested through estimating Cronbach’s alpha. In order to analyze the data, structural equation modeling was used with the statistical software Smart PLS and SPSS 22. Quantitative findings showed that metacognitive strategies have reverse effect on students' academic procrastination. Students' academic procrastination has a direct effect on their test anxiety. Metacognitive strategies have a direct effect on students' test anxiety. Metacognitive strategies have an indirect effect on students' exam anxiety with the mediating role of academic procrastination. The results of the research also showed that the components of cognitive self-awareness, positive beliefs, cognitive dissonance, mastery, and inhibition of thoughts respectively have the greatest effect on academic procrastination and anxiety