Test anxiety: Psychological, behavioral and biological correlates

Self-report and objective measures of psycholo-gical, behavioral and biological characteristics were collected, in order to examine the nature of test anxiety. In multiple regression analyses, test anxiety was associated (a) with self-reported psychological maladjustment and psychosomatic disorders, but not with actual capacity and skills, cardiovascular fitness, or biochemical parame-ters of health; (b) under stress, it was associated with elevations in self-reported distress, and heart rate during anticipation of evaluation (but not during the tasks), and there were no diffe-rences in behavioral tension. It is concluded that there are no behavioral deficits or biological dysfunctions in test anxiety. The most important component seems a cognitive bias to self-focus on internal sources of information, and to en-dorse them a threat-related interpretation.