Intra-individual and Extra- individual predictors of text anxiety in Indian children: A cross-cultural perspective

The present study examined the nature of test anxiety from a cross-cultural perspective, with a specific reference to children in the Indian culture. In particular, the present study investigated the role of intra-individual variables (fear, anxiety, depression, and somatization) and extra-individual variables (activities schedule, consequences of failure, perceived parental expectations and involvement and parental expectations and involvement) in predicting test anxiety. A culturally sensitive methodology consistent with Berry’s imposed etic-emic-derived etic approach was adopted wherein a combination of qualitative and quantitative data was examined. A sample of 231 children from government, government-aided, and private schools participated in the study. Qualitative data was collected using focus groups and open-ended questions and provided an enriched understanding of the manifestation of test anxiety and its correlates in a sample of school going children in India. Quantitative data was collected from translated and adapted western questionnaires and surveys that tapped intra-individual and extra-individual variables examined in the current investigation. Overall, the qualitative data indicated that social derogation and somatization were salient aspects of the phenomenological experience; while high stakes exams, authoritarian parenting styles, and poverty, were significant contextual factors related to test anxiety in Indian children. Quantitative data suggested that somatization was correlated to test anxiety and predicted test anxiety above and beyond other intra-individual variables. However, among the extra-individual variables, only consequences of exam failure and perceived parental expectations were correlated with test anxiety and these did not predict test anxiety above and beyond the intra-individual variables. Limitations and suggestions for future research are discussed. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has been central to my academic progress so far and my personal growth throughout my life. I am greatly thankful to our research team in India headed by Dr. Anuradha Sovani at the Institute of Psychological Health, for all their hard work and perseverance in the data collection process. This project would have been impossible without their support and dedicated effort. I would like to thank Dr. Tom Ollendick for his mentorship and guidance. I always feel inspired by your sense of discipline and your enthusiasm about your work. Thank you for setting high standards for me and for your encouragement and support in striving for them. You have been a role model to me in many ways. I look forward to years of continued collaboration and mentorship with you. I would also like to thank Dr. Lee Cooper for an insightful clinical supervision and practicum experience. Thank you believing in me and challenging me to realize my potential as a clinician. I would also like to express my gratitude to my other committee members – Dr. Martha Ann Bell, Dr. George Clum, and Dr. Kusum Singh for their thought provoking questions, discussions, and guidance. I would like to thank my parents, and my sister Rajashree, for being there for me and supporting me through my days of being test anxious . and beyond. Thank you for always loving me, believing in me, and encouraging me to do my very best. I want to thank my nephew Aditya, for being a constant source of joy in my life. I would like to express my gratitude to my mother-in-law for her understanding, kindness, and support. I would like to thank Celine, Carlos, Willard, Wilfred, Thomas, Vita, Charles, and Nataline, for always being there for us when we missed our families back home. Finally, I would like to thank my husband, Cyril, whose love, encouragement, and unfailing support gave me the strength to stay away from home and pursue my dreams.