Assessment anxiety, tendency to procrastinate, self-efficacy and grit: What relationship? First results of a survey of University students
Anna Rita Colasanti, Domenico Vistocco, Antonella Sinagoga
Test anxiety affects about 25% of University students, with important effects on school/academic performance in terms of a constant procrastination and, more generally, on physical and mental health. On the other hand, the presence of certain factors such as academic self-efficacy and grit can mitigate the presence of test anxiety. This paper describes a study involving 810 University students, carried out with the twofold purpose of estimating the presence of test anxiety and of testing correlation among test anxiety, procrastination tendency, academic self-efficacy and grit.
The results show that first-year students and not regular students are more at risk with regard to test anxiety, and that academic self-efficacy and grit may be important protective factors, as they correlate negatively with test anxiety and inclination to procrastinate. It is important to plain interventions and programs in the direction of promoting self-efficacy and grit.
Keywords
Academic procrastination, test anxiety, grit, self-efficacy, academic performance.