Development of the Exam Anxiety Scale for Parents: A Validity and Reliability Study

Abstract

Introduction. The aim of this study is to develop a measurement instrument for measuring the exam anxiety experienced by the parents regarding their children's exams. Method. The data were collected from two different study groups. While the first group consists of 299 parents, 169 female and 130 male, the second group consists of 200 parents, 108 female and 92 male. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was conducted to examine the factor structure of the scale and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was conducted to confirm the obtained structure. Additionally, criterion validity was investigated by using the state-trait anxiety inventory. Results. The two-dimensional structure obtained through EFA was named as worry and physiological dimensions. In order to confirm this two-dimensional structure, CFA was conducted and the results showed that the sufficient model fit indices were gathered. For the criterion validity, positive medium correlations were found with the state-trait anxiety inventory. As for the reliability, the Cronbach's Alpha values computed for both the first and second study groups ranged from .88 to .93 for the sub-dimensions and the overall scale. Discussion andr Conclusion. In light of the above mentioned results, it was concluded that the developed two-factor model is useful for measuring the exam anxiety of parents.