Validation of a Spanish adaptation of the Test Anxiety Inventory

(TAI-SP)
Ivan Alsina, Jose Gutierrez-Maldonado, Mara Virginia Rangel, Mnica Antequera-Faria
Universidad de Barcelona
alsinajurnet@gmail.com

Test anxiety had become a highly frequent problem in our society, studies estimate that approximately 15-25% of the university students had high levels of examination-related
anxiety. To date the most widely used inventory directed to asses test anxiety for both research and clinical purposes is the Test Anxiety Inventory (TAI, Spielberger, 1980). The TAI
had been adapted and validated for a wide range of different cultures and languages, however no studies had been conducted in Spain. The present study is directed to evaluate the
psychometric properties and the factorial structure of a Spanish version of the Test Anxiety Inventory (TAI-SP). With this aim, the TAI-SP was administered to 1562 university
students of the University of Barcelona, most of them women (83%), between the ages of 18 and 54 years. The factor structure of the TAI-SP was explored using factorial analysis.
In line with theoretical predictions, the factor analysis revealed two components of test anxiety, worry and emotionality. The total scale and subscale scores demonstrated satisfactory
internal consistency reliability. Also, the conception of worry and emotionality as two correlated but separable factors of test anxiety was supported. These results showed that the
TAI-SP have good psychometric properties, which were comparable to those reported for the original English form.

Introduction

Results
Factorial analyses

Since the first studies conducted in the beginning of the last century, test anxiety has
emerged as one of the most widely studied specific form of anxiety in the literature.
Several studies estimate that between 15-25% of students suffer from high levels of
examination-related anxiety. In Spain, a recent study among 28,463 university students
found high levels of test anxiety in 20.84% of them (Hernndez, 2005) These findings are
important not only because of the high number of students affected but also because of the
negative consequences anxiety has on performance, leading, in the worst case scenario, to
a sharp decline in students academic results and to a serious restriction of their job
prospects.

The factor structure of the TAI was examined using the maximum likelihood
method. A promax rotation was used, in which two factors were forced. These
factors accounted for 51.62% of variance in items scores. Factor loadings are
presented in Table 1. Items with a factor loading of <0.35 have been excluded
for the interpretation of the results. The examination of the item content reveals
that eight items loads on the cognitive dimension of test anxiety, whereas twelve
items loads on the physiological affective dimension (Table 1). Thus, those
items that didnt load on either factor in the original TAI questionnaire (items 1,
12, 13, 19; Spielberger, 1980), were load on the affective component of test
anxiety. Inter-factor correlation was high (r =0.679). Due to the degree of
similarity between the original facture of the TAI and the factor solution
presented in this analysis, the terms Worry and Emotionality were retained.

Table 1. Factorial loadings

Test anxiety is usually conceived as a situation-specific personality trait. This means that
students with this condition are predisposed to reacting with heightened anxiety in the
face of situations that involve evaluation. Liebert and Morris (1967) identified two
fundamental components of test anxiety: Worry and Emotionality. Emotionality refers to
the affective physiological component of test anxiety. Physiological manifestations are
related with the activation of the autonomic nervous system such as an increased galvanic
response and heart rate, dizziness, nausea or feelings of panic. Worry, in the other hand,
refers to the cognitive manifestation of test anxiety, and is referred to a set of thoughts
related to the expectation of failure and its negative consequences, and subjects fears of
being less able than their peers.
Following this conceptual distinction, most research on test anxiety has been directed to
develop measures that take account of the multi dimensional nature of test anxiety. Thus,
a variety of measures have been developed, such as the Worry-Emotionality
Questionnaire, the Reactions to Tests Scale, the FRIEDBEN Test Anxiety Scale, etc. But
to date, the most used questionnaire is the Test Anxiety Inventory (TAI, Spielberger,
1980). The TAI has been adapted for a wide range of countries including China, Czech,
Germany, Hungary, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordiana, Korea, Netherlands, Norway,
Puerto Rico, Turkey and United Kingdom, but surprisingly to date hadnt been adapted in
Spain.
Thus, due to the lack of studies in this direction the primary aim of the present work was
to evaluate the psychometric properties and the factorial structure of a Spanish version of
the Test Anxiety Inventory (TAI-SP) in a sample composed by university students. The
influence of gender on trait test anxiety was also examined. Research had consistently
revealed large sex differences in test anxiety across different cultures, with females
scoring significantly higher than males, specially in the Emotionality component. Based
on this previous literature, in the present study is predicted that female students will report
higher levels of test anxiety than males.

Test Anxiety Components

Emotionality
i1
i2
i3
i4
i5
i6
i7
i8
i9
i10
i11
i12
i13
i14
i15
i16
i17
i18
i19
i20

,657
,698
,924
,700
,606
,763
,862
,665
,745
,648
,706
,527
,576
,814
,631
,712
,568
,556

Regarding the reliability of the TAI-SP, the Cronbach alpha revealed a high
internal consistency for the TAI total score ( = 0.933) and both Emotionality
( = 0.889) and Worry ( = 0.858) scales.

Gender differences.
A Student T Test was performed in order to compare sex differences in test
anxiety. The results showed that female students reported a higher level of test
anxiety than males. These differences were present in both the worry and
emotionality components (table 2).

Table 2. Means, standard deviations and T Student test

Subjects

The sample, recruited via an on-line course about stress and test anxiety, comprised
1562 students in different academic years at 48 faculties at the University of Barcelona.
1297 were women (83%) and 265 men (17%), with a mean age of 23.17 years (SD =
3.75, range 18-54).

The TAI (Test Anxiety Inventory; Spielberger, 1980). A self-report questionnaire designed
to measure test anxiety as a situation-specific personality trait. The questionnaire
comprises 20 items in which the student must indicate how often they experience the
symptoms of anxiety before, during and after the examinations, on a 1- to 4-point Likert
scale (1 hardly ever, 5 almost always). The TAI contains two subscales, of eight items
each, which assess worry (cognitive aspects) and emotionality (physiological aspects).

-,679
,600

Reliability

Materials and Methods

Instrument

Worry

Gender
Men
Women
Men
Women
Men
Women

N
264
1295
264
1296
263
1295

X
13,45
15,89
16,86
20,91
39,48
47,67

SD
4,32
5,20
5,24
5,87
11,33
12,63

t
-8.036

g
433

p
0.000

-11.26

408

0.000

-9.75

1556

0.000

Note: W= Worry, E= Emotionality, T= Total score of TAI

Conclusions
The TAI-SP have good psychometric properties. The factorial analysis
suggested a two-factor solution to TAI-SP items: Worry and Emotionality. The
total scale and subscale scores also demonstrated satisfactory internal
consistency reliability. Also the conception of worry and emotionality as two
correlated but separable factors of test anxiety was supported. In line with
previous literature, gender differences were found in test anxiety. Thus, female
students reported higher levels of test anxiety than males.