The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of cue-controlled relaxation on reducing test anxiety of elementary school children. The major research hypothesis was as follows: There will be a statistically significant difference in posttest median scores obtained on the Test Anxiety Scale for Children among the cue-controlled relaxation treatment, the treatment placebo and the no-treatment control groups.The research was conducted at Heidelberg American Elementary School Number Two, a Department of Defense school located in West Germany. Nine fourth and fifth grade teachers volunteered their intact classes for this study. The intact classes were randomly assigned to one of three experimental conditions: cue-controlled relaxation, treatment placebo or no-treatment control. All students who had parental permission received their assigned experimental conditions; however, only students who received parental permission, scored 13 or higher on the pretest and who were present for the posttest were designated as subjects. Students who did not receive parental permission were taken to the library during pretesting, posttesting and when the experimental conditions were being given.The Sarason Test Anxiety Scale for Children (TASC) was used to measure test anxiety before treatment and after treatment. The TASC consists of 30 items relating to test anxiety. Each item was read to the students by their teachers. The students then responded by circling "yes" or "no" on the answer sheets.An extension of the median test for k independent samples was used to test the major null hypothesis. A chi square of 2.192 was obtained from the median test, which was not significant at the .05 level. Therefore, it was concluded that there was no statistically significant difference in TASC posttest scores among the cue-controlled relaxation, the treatment placebo and the no-treatment control groups.

Although the significance of anxiety has long been recognized and explored within the framework of psychoanalysis, it was not until after World War II that it began to influence research in psychology. The manipulation of anxiety as a research variable has taken place both within and without the framework of psychoanalytic theory. The primary purpose of the present study was to determine the relationship between test anxiety, as determined by scores on the TASC, and performance on the Wechsler Intelliaence Scale for Children. TASC scores were compared to Verbal Scale, Performance Scale, Full Scale, and individual subtest scores on the WISC.

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The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of rational desensitization therapy on the reduction of the test anxiety of college students. The feasibility of this approach to test anxiety reduction was examined by comparing the reduction of anxiety of four experimental groups of subjects with the anxiety reduction of subjects in a control group. Students indicating that they had test anxiety were randomly assigned to groups based on the limitations of their schedules. Students assigned to the control group did not participate in the treatment phase of the study. Students comprising the sample were enrolled in Human Growth and Development (Educational Psychology 250) classes during the Spring Quarter of 1971. No exclusions from the study were made on the basis of age, sex, marital status, education, color or creed.The basic design of the study included the selection of test anxious college students. These students attended an orientation and pre treatment testing session. Thirty-two students comprised the original treatment group and twenty-eight were chosen as the control group. Four experimental groups met twice a week for five weeks with an experimentor. The control group of students took the pre and post treatment tests but did not attend group treatment sessions.An analysis of covariance was used to test for significance between the means of the experimental and control groups. In instances where heterogeneity of the regression line was found, a factorial design was used to analyze the level by treatment level interaction of the experimental and control groups on the pre and post tests. Fifteen null hypothesis were tested with the .05 level of confidence necessary for rejection.No significant differences were obtained in the reduction of test anxiety between the means of the composite four rational desensitization groups and the control group as shown by the Suinn Test Anxiety Behavior Scale and the Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale. However, the changes were larger for the Suinn and Taylor Scales than for the Digit Symbol sub-test of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale.An analysis of the results on the Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale, the Suinn Test Anxiety Behavioral Scale and the Digit Symbol sub-test of the WAIS revealed F values of 3.81. 3.55 and 1.53 respectively. An F value of 4.03 was needed for significance at the .05 confidence level.Subjective data, such as comments from experimenters and verbal feedback from subjects who participated in the experimental groups, offer support to warrant continued investigation of rational desensitization therapy as a viable approach to the reduction of test anxiety and to the possibility of its applicability to other types of behavior disorders.

This study investigated whether or not receiving cognitive modification counseling would lead to reduced debilitating test anxiety, as measured by the Achievement Anxiety Test (AAT), and improved standardized test performance, as measured by the School and College Abilities Test (SCAT). The subjects were test anxious college students of high, middle, and low ability levels. It was predicted that test anxious students who received cognitive modification counseling would experience greater reductions in test anxiety than would test anxious students who did not receive such counseling. It was further predicted that concomitant with test anxiety reduction, students of middle ability would demonstrate greater improvement on a standardized aptitude test than would students of high or low ability who had received counseling or students of high, middle, or low aptitude who had not received counseling.SCAT and AAT pre-tests were administered to 776 college undergraduates, the majority of whom were freshmen. Students were designated as being of high, middle, or low ability level on the basis of their SCAT standard scores. Those students who scored within the highest 27% on the AAT were invited to participate in counseling and volunteers were randomly assigned to experimental and wait-list control groups. A total of 68 volunteer subjects' participated in the study.Experimental subjects were randomly assigned, within the limitations of their time schedules, to three counseling groups of 9-14 subjects per group. The author acted as counselor for all groups, which each met for five sessions over a period of three weeks. Meichenbaum's (1972) cognitive modification procedures were followed in all sessions.Experimental and wait-list control groups were post-tested with the AAT and an. alternate form of the SCAT. A two factor multivariate analysis of covariance design was used to analyze the data. The independent variable was counseling and no-counseling. AAT and SCAT post-test scores were the dependent variables measured, with SCAT pre-test scores serving as the covariate.Analysis of the data revealed that debilitating test anxiety was significantly (p.< .01) reduced for subjects who received cognitive modification counseling. Performance scores on the SCAT post-test, however, were the same for both counseled and wait-list control subjects. Analysis of the interaction between treatement and ability level also revealed no significant differences. Standardized test scores were essentially the same, within ability levels, for counseled and wait-list control subjects.The findings of this study support the effectiveness of cognitive modification counseling as a technique for reducing test anxiety among college students. They do not, however, support the contention that test anxiety has a detrimental effect on standardized test performance or the differential effects, reported in previous studies, of test anxiety on learning and test performance among students of high, average, and low ability. Methodological limitations encountered in the study, however, make hazardous the arrival at conclusions regarding the effect of test anxiety on test performance.The results of this study indicate that counselors may need to consider combining instruction in study techniques with cognitive modification counseling when attempting to bring about improved test performance among test anxious college students. The results also suggest that school psychologists may accept with confidence the group standardized test scores of students who report themselves to be test anxious.Recommendations for further research concerning the interactive effects of test anxiety and ability level on standardized test performance include: the use of an actual standardized test situation, i.e., a regularly scheduled administration of the Scholastic Aptitude Test; and comparison between group and individual standardized test scores of test anxious students.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 1987. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 65-74). Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wyoming, 2007. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on Nov. 18, 2008). Includes bibliographical references (p. 35-37).

Thesis--PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis--Columbia University. / "Reprinted from Rorschach research exchange and Journal of projective techniques, vol. XIII, 1949, no. 3." Bibliography: p. 38.