The Structural Equation Modeling of Test Anxiety based on Perfectionism with Emphasis on Mediating Role of Maladaptive Cognitive Emotion Regulation

Test anxiety is one of the common problems in children and adolescents that reduce their efficiency. Too much anxiety may firstly disrupt studying and memorizing, and finally, disturb the performance of an individual during the test. The purpose of this study was to structural equation modeling of test anxiety based on perfectionism with emphasis on mediating role of cognitive emotion regulation. The method of this study was descriptive -correlational. The whole secondary school students in Tehran city in the academic year 1401-1400 constituted the statistical population of this study. 456 people from this statistical population were selected randomly by convenience sampling and participated in this study. The instruments were the test anxiety inventory (TAI) of Aboighasand et al (1375), the Tehran multidimensional perfectionism scale (TMPS) of Besharat (2,008), and the cognitive emotion regulation questionnaire (CERQ) of Garnefski and Kraaij (2006). Data were evaluated and analyzed with the use of Pearson’s correlation and Structural Equation Model (SEM) by SPSS-24 and AMOS. Results showed that perfectionism and maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation negatively predicted test anxiety in students (p <0.05). maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation had a mediating role in this prediction (p <0.05). As a result, focusing on perfectionism and maladaptive cognitive regulation of emotion can play an important role in student test anxiety. More interventions based on overcoming perfectionism and cognitive emotion regulation-based interventions in treatment for pathological test anxiety are suggested.