Sex and grade differences in school anxiety: Study with a sample of Spanish high school students

Little is known about sex and grade differences in diverse situations and response systems of school anxiety. The aim of this study was to analyze these differences in Spanish high school students. The School Anxiety Inventory (SAI) was administered to a sample of 1,409 students (48% male) aged 12 to 18 years. Girls showed significantly higher scores than boys in Anxiety related with: School Failure and Punishment, Aggression, Social Evaluation and Test Anxiety, as well as in Cognitive, Behavioral and Psychophysiological Anxiety. However, these differences were of small magnitude. Furthermore, grade 7 students showed significantly higher scores than their classmates from other grades in all factors of the SAI, except in Anxiety related with Test Anxiety. There were statistically significant differences across grade levels of small to moderate magnitude. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)