Statistics anxiety, state anxiety during an examination, and academic achievement.

BACKGROUND: A large proportion of students identify statistics courses as the most anxiety-inducing courses in their curriculum. Many students feel impaired by feelings of state anxiety in the examination and therefore probably show lower achievements. AIMS: The study investigates how statistics anxiety, attitudes (e.g., interest, mathematical self-concept) and trait anxiety, as a general disposition to anxiety, influence experiences of anxiety as well as achievement in an examination. SAMPLE: Participants were 284 undergraduate psychology students, 225 females and 59 males. METHODS: Two weeks prior to the examination, participants completed a demographic questionnaire and measures of the STARS, the STAI, self-concept in mathematics, and interest in statistics. At the beginning of the statistics examination, students assessed their present state anxiety by the KUSTA scale. After 25 min, all examination participants gave another assessment of their anxiety at that moment. Students' examination scores were recorded. Structural equation modelling techniques were used to test relationships between the variables in a multivariate context. RESULTS: Statistics anxiety was the only variable related to state anxiety in the examination. Via state anxiety experienced before and during the examination, statistics anxiety had a negative influence on achievement. However, statistics anxiety also had a direct positive influence on achievement. This result may be explained by students' motivational goals in the specific educational setting. CONCLUSIONS: The results provide insight into the relationship between students' attitudes, dispositions, experiences of anxiety in the examination, and academic achievement, and give recommendations to instructors on how to support students prior to and in the examination.

The effect of statistics anxiety on students’ predicted and actual test scores

This study investigated the effect of statistics anxiety and attitudes on first year psychology students’ predicted and actual statistics class test scores. A total of 52 students completed the Statistics Anxiety Rating Scale and estimated their class test scores one week before their test at the end of first year. Regression models were conducted with the six attitude and anxiety subscales as predictors and the predicted and actual test scores as criterion variables. The results showed that computation self concept and fear of asking for help accounted for 37% of the variance in predicted test scores. However, when actual test scores were analysed the significant predictors were worth of statistics and interpretation anxiety, which accounted for 20% of the variance. These results suggested that while statistics anxiety does influence students’ perceptions of their competence it appears to have less effect on their actual performance. Results also suggested that students were unaware of their own statistical competence. Remedial action is required to address the level of statistics anxiety experienced by first year undergraduate psychology students, as it appears to result in unrealistic assessments of their ability and has detrimental effects on their statistics self-efficacy.

Associations between repetitive questioning, resistance to change, temper outbursts and anxiety in Prader-Willi and Fragile-X syndromes

The behavioural phenotypes of Prader-Willi (PWS) and Fragile-X (FraX) syndromes both comprise repetitive behaviours with differences between the profiles. In this study we investigated the context and antecedents to the repetitive behaviours and the association with other behavioural phenotypic characteristics in order to generate testable hypotheses regarding the cause of the behaviours.

The parents or carers of 46 children with PWS (mean age 14.1 years; 20 girls), and 33 boys with FraX (mean age 13.11 years) were interviewed about their children's repetitive behaviour in a semi-structured format.

Children showed negative emotional behaviour (PWS: 87.0%; FraX: 79.4%) and repetitive questions (PWS: 78.3%; FraX: 73.5%) following changes in routine or expectations. Significantly more temper outbursts were reported to follow changes in children with PWS (89.1%) compared with boys with FraX (41.2%) (chi(2) = 20.93; P <0.001). Anxiety that was frequently associated with repetitive and self-injurious behaviours in boys with FraX, followed changes in significantly more boys with FraX (76.5%) compared with children with PWS (6.5%) (chi(2) = 43.19, P <0.001).

On the basis of these reports and existing literature, we hypothesise that decreases in predictability are aversive to children with PWS and FraX. We also hypothesise that these children have a propensity to show a syndrome-related pattern of behaviour (temper outbursts in PWS and displays of anxiety in FraX) when an event in the environment has this aversive property. We hypothesise that questions may be reinforcing to children in their own right by increasing the predictability of the environment. We outline how a specific cognitive deficit in the endophenotypes associated with both PWS and FraX could be investigated as a potential explanation for the hypothesised aversive properties of decreased predictability.

The subjective numeracy scale as a tool for assessing statistical numeracy in older adult populations

BACKGROUND:
Statistical numeracy, necessary for making informed medical decisions, is reduced among older adults who make more decisions about their medical care and treatment than at any other stage of life. Objective numeracy scales are a source of anxiety among patients, heightened among older adults.
OBJECTIVE:
We investigate the subjective numeracy scale as an alternative tool for measuring statistical numeracy with older adult samples.
METHODS:
Numeracy was assessed using objective measures for 526 adults ranging in age from 18 to 93 years, and all participants provided subjective numeracy ratings.
RESULTS:
Subjective numeracy correlated highly with objective measurements among oldest adults (70+ years; r = 0.51, 95% CI 0.32, 0.66), and for younger age groups. Subjective numeracy explained 33.2% of age differences in objective numeracy.
CONCLUSION:
The subjective numeracy scale provides an effective tool for assessing statistical numeracy for broad age ranges and circumvents problems associated with objective numeracy measures.

Can I Count on Getting Better? Association between Math Anxiety and Poorer Understanding of Medical Risk Reductions

BACKGROUND: Lower numerical ability is associated with poorer understanding of health statistics, such as risk reductions of medical treatment. For many people, despite good numeracy skills, math provokes anxiety that impedes an ability to evaluate numerical information. Math-anxious individuals also report less confidence in their ability to perform math tasks. We hypothesized that, independent of objective numeracy, math anxiety would be associated with poorer responding and lower confidence when calculating risk reductions of medical treatments.

METHODS: Objective numeracy was assessed using an 11-item objective numeracy scale. A 13-item self-report scale was used to assess math anxiety. In experiment 1, participants were asked to interpret the baseline risk of disease and risk reductions associated with treatment options. Participants in experiment 2 were additionally provided a graphical display designed to facilitate the processing of math information and alleviate effects of math anxiety. Confidence ratings were provided on a 7-point scale.

RESULTS: Individuals of higher objective numeracy were more likely to respond correctly to baseline risks and risk reductions associated with treatment options and were more confident in their interpretations. Individuals who scored high in math anxiety were instead less likely to correctly interpret the baseline risks and risk reductions and were less confident in their risk calculations as well as in their assessments of the effectiveness of treatment options. Math anxiety predicted confidence levels but not correct responding when controlling for objective numeracy. The graphical display was most effective in increasing confidence among math-anxious individuals.

CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest that math anxiety is associated with poorer medical risk interpretation but is more strongly related to confidence in interpretations.

Maths anxiety in psychology undergraduates: A mixed-methods approach to formulating and implementing interventions

A key challenge to educators in disciplines that, while not maths based, nevertheless
contain some maths component, is mathematics anxiety. Over the years, a number of
intervention strategies have been tested, seeking reduce maths anxiety in undergraduates.
Many of these studies, however, contain methodological issues that challenge their validity. It
is also unclear how many of these studies decide which type of interventions to use. This
research sought to correct both of these issues. In Study 1, focus groups were carried out to
explore which interventions students believed would most likely reduce their maths anxiety.
Study 2 implemented those interventions that Study 1 showed to be practical and potentially
effective, utilising a large sample of Year 1 and Year 2 psychology undergraduates,
controlling for potential methodological confounds. Results showed that only one
intervention (teaching quantitative research methods using real-life examples) had any
significant effect on maths anxiety, and this was slight. These results, while not impressive by
themselves, do suggest ways in which larger-scale interventions could seek to proceed in
terms of reducing maths anxiety.

Correlation Among Math Anxiety, Attitudes Toward Math, and Math Achievement in Grade 9 Students: Relationships Across Gender

This research evaluated (a) the correlation between math anxiety, math attitudes, and achievement in math and (b) comparison among these variables in terms of gender among grade 9 students in a high school located in southern Ontario. Data were compiled from participant responses to the Attitudes Toward Math Inventory (ATMI) and the Math Anxiety Rating Scale for Adolescents (MARS-A), and achievement data were gathered from participants’ grade 9 academic math course marks and the EQAO Grade 9 Assessment of Mathematics. Nonparametric tests were conducted to determine whether there were relationships between the variables and to explore whether gender differences in anxiety, attitudes, and achievement existed for this sample. Results indicated that math anxiety was not related to math achievement but was a strong correlate of attitudes toward math. A strong positive relationship was found between math attitudes and achievement in math. Specifically, self-confidence in math, enjoyment of math, value of math, and motivation were all positive correlates of achievement in math. Also, results for gender comparisons were nonsignificant, indicating that gender differences in math anxiety, math attitudes, and math achievement scores were not prevalent in this group of grade 9 students. Therefore, attitudes toward math were considered to be a stronger predictor of performance than math anxiety or gender for this group.

The comorbidity of psychopathy, anxiety, and depression disorder

La psychopathie est un désordre de la personnalité caractérisé par des traits de comportement, tels qu’un manque d’empathie, du narcissisme, une estime de soi élevée, etc. Souvent, ces traits sont considérés comme indésirables. Ces caractéristiques se manifestent chez l’homme et la femme, autant dans la population criminelle que non-criminelle. L’étude de la psychopathie et la relation entre celle-ci et d’autres désordres mentaux représente un domaine relativement novateur de la psychologie. Des études démontrent une forte corrélation négative entre la psychopathie et l'anxiété, et entre la psychopathie et la dépression. Au total, 92 étudiants actuels ou ayant récemment graduées, au niveau du baccalauréat, de la maîtrise, et du doctorat ont été recrutés pour participer à cette étude. Ces participants ont complété quatre questionnaires standardisées qui évaluent leur niveau de psychopathie, d’anxiété et de dépression. Les évaluations utilisées sont le « Levenson’s Self-Report Psychopathy scale », le « Childhood and Adolescent Taxon Self-Report », le « Beck Depression Inventory », et le « Beck Anxiety Inventory ». Les résultats suggèrent l'existence d'une forte corrélation positive entre la dépression et la psychopathie, entre l'anxiété et la psychopathie, et entre l'anxiété et la dépression. Des variables additionnelles, tels que le sexe et l’éducation antérieure, contribuent aussi de façon significatives à ce modèle. Les résultats sont analysés tout en considérant des études antérieures et l’importance de la comorbidité psychopathique dans la recherche à venir.

Feasibility of guided CBT self-help for childhood anxiety disorders in primary care

Anxiety disorders in childhood are common, disabling and run a chronic course. Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) effective but is expensive and trained therapists are scarce. Guided self-help treatments may be a means of widening access to treatment. This study aimed to examine the feasibility of guided CBT self-help for childhood anxiety disorders in Primary Care, specifically in terms of therapist adherence, patient and therapist satisfaction and clinical gain. Participants were children aged 5-12 years referred to two Primary Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (PCAMHSs) in Oxfordshire, UK, who met diagnostic criteria for a primary anxiety disorder. Of the 52 eligible children, 41 anxious children were assessed for anxiety severity and interference before and after receiving CBT self-help, delivered via the parent (total therapy time= 5 hours) by Primary Mental Health Workers (PMHWs). Therapy sessions were rated for treatment adherence and patients and PMHWs completed satisfaction questionnaires after treatment completion. Over 80% of therapy sessions were rated at a high level of treatment adherence. Parents and PMHWs reported high satisfaction with the treatment. 61% of the children assessed no longer met criteria for their primary anxiety disorder diagnosis following treatment, and 76% were rated as ‘much’/’very much’ improved on the Clinician’s Global Impression-Improvement scale. There were significant reductions on parent and child report measures of anxiety symptoms, interference, and depression. Preliminary exploration indicated that parental anxiety was associated with child treatment outcome. The findings suggest that guided CBT self-help represents a promising treatment for childhood anxiety in primary care.

Assessment of depression, anxiety and apathy in prodromal and early Huntington disease

The Functional Rating Scale Taskforce for pre-Huntington Disease (FuRST-pHD) is a multinational, multidisciplinary initiative with the goal of developing a data-driven, comprehensive, psychometrically sound, rating scale for assessing symptoms and functional ability in prodromal and early Huntington disease (HD) gene expansion carriers. The process involves input from numerous sources to identify relevant symptom domains, including HD individuals, caregivers, and experts from a variety of fields, as well as knowledge gained from the analysis of data from ongoing large-scale studies in HD using existing clinical scales. This is an iterative process in which an ongoing series of field tests in prodromal (prHD) and early HD individuals provides the team with data on which to make decisions regarding which questions should undergo further development or testing and which should be excluded. We report here the development and assessment of the first iteration of interview questions aimed to assess Depression, Anxiety and Apathy in prHD and early HD individuals.

An item response analysis of the motor and behavioral subscales of the unified Huntington's disease rating scale in huntington disease gene expansion carriers

Although the Unified Huntington's Disease Rating Scale (UHDRS) is widely used in the assessment of Huntington disease (HD), the ability of individual items to discriminate individual differences in motor or behavioral manifestations has not been extensively studied in HD gene expansion carriers without a motor-defined clinical diagnosis (ie, prodromal-HD or prHD). To elucidate the relationship between scores on individual motor and behavioral UHDRS items and total score for each subscale, a nonparametric item response analysis was performed on retrospective data from 2 multicenter longitudinal studies. Motor and behavioral assessments were supplied for 737 prHD individuals with data from 2114 visits (PREDICT-HD) and 686 HD individuals with data from 1482 visits (REGISTRY). Option characteristic curves were generated for UHDRS subscale items in relation to their subscale score. In prHD, overall severity of motor signs was low, and participants had scores of 2 or above on very few items. In HD, motor items that assessed ocular pursuit, saccade initiation, finger tapping, tandem walking, and to a lesser extent, saccade velocity, dysarthria, tongue protrusion, pronation/supination, Luria, bradykinesia, choreas, gait, and balance on the retropulsion test were found to discriminate individual differences across a broad range of motor severity. In prHD, depressed mood, anxiety, and irritable behavior demonstrated good discriminative properties. In HD, depressed mood demonstrated a good relationship with the overall behavioral score. These data suggest that at least some UHDRS items appear to have utility across a broad range of severity, although many items demonstrate problematic features.

The facial affective scale as a predictor for pain unpleasantness when children undergo immunizations.

Needle fear is a common problem in children undergoing immunization. To ensure that the individual child's needs are met during a painful procedure it would be beneficial to be able to predict whether there is a need for extra support. The self-reporting instrument facial affective scale (FAS) could have potential for this purpose. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether the FAS can predict pain unpleasantness in girls undergoing immunization. Girls, aged 11-12 years, reported their expected pain unpleasantness on the FAS at least two weeks before and then experienced pain unpleasantness immediately before each vaccination. The experienced pain unpleasantness during the vaccination was also reported immediately after each immunization. The level of anxiety was similarly assessed during each vaccination and supplemented with stress measures in relation to the procedure in order to assess and evaluate concurrent validity. The results show that the FAS is valid to predict pain unpleasantness in 11-12-year-old girls who undergo immunizations and that it has the potential to be a feasible instrument to identify children who are in need of extra support to cope with immunization. In conclusion, the FAS measurement can facilitate caring interventions.

The Facial Affective Scale (FAS) as a predictor for pain unpleasantness when children undergo immunizations

Needle fear is a common problem in children undergoing immunization. To ensure that the individual child’s needs are met during a painful procedure it would be beneficial to be able to predict whether there is a need for extra support. The self-reporting instrument facial affective scale (FAS) could have potential for this purpose. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether the FAS can predict pain unpleasantness in girls undergoing immunization. Girls, aged 11-12 years, reported their expected pain unpleasantness on the FAS at least two weeks before and then experienced pain unpleasantness immediately before each vaccination. The experienced pain unpleasantness during the vaccination was also reported immediately after each immunization. The level of anxiety was similarly assessed during each vaccination and supplemented with stress measures in relation to the procedure in order to assess and evaluate concurrent validity. The results show that the FAS is valid to predict pain unpleasantness in 11-12-year-old girls who undergo immunizations and that it has the potential to be a feasible instrument to identify children who are in need of extra support to cope with immunization. In conclusion, the FAS measurement can facilitate caring interventions.

Prevalence of psychological distress, anxiety and depression in rural communities in Australia

Objective: To describe the prevalence of psychological distress, depression and anxiety in three Australian rural settings and to identify the levels of risk by gender and age.

Design and setting: Three cross-sectional surveys in the Greater Green Triangle area covering the south-east of South Australia (Limestone Coast), and south-west (Corangamite Shire) and north-west (Wimmera) of Victoria.

Participants: A total of 1563 people, aged 25–74 years, randomly selected from the electoral roll.

Main outcome measures: Psychological distress assessed by the Kessler 10, and anxiety and depression assessed by the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale.

Results: The prevalence of psychological distress was 31% for both men and women with two-thirds reporting moderate and one-third high levels of psychological distress. The prevalence of depression and anxiety was approximately 10%. The highest rate of psychological distress, anxiety and depression occurred in the 45–54 years age group. There were no consistent gender or area differences in the prevalence of psychological distress, depression or anxiety.

Conclusions: A third of the rural population reported psychological distress, with the highest prevalence observed in middle-aged men and women. Thus, health professionals should attend not only to physical health, but also to mental health status in this age group. It is also important to target prevention strategies at the 20% who reported moderate levels of psychological distress in order to prevent the development of more serious conditions.

Depression, anxiety and stress in women following acute coronary syndrome: implications for secondary prevention

Objective
To document incidence of depression, anxiety, and stress in women more than 6 months following an acute coronary syndrome.

Design
Participants were identified from a coronary care unit database. The Depression Anxiety Stress Scales 21 (DASS 21) was sent to potential participants via postal survey.

Setting
A metropolitan teaching hospital in Melbourne, Australia.

Participants
The cohort of women was aged between 55 and 70 years. They had been admitted to hospital with a diagnosis of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) between 6 and 14 months prior to participating in this study.

Main outcome measures
Scores on Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS 21).

Results
Of the 117 posted questionnaires, 39 women with a mean age of 63 (S.D. 4.97) responded to the survey, representing a response rate of 33.3%. Most participants scored within normal levels of depression (66.7%), anxiety (60.5%), and stress (70.3%), however, mild to extremely severe levels of each construct (33.4%, 39.6%, and 29.7%, respectively) were found.

Conclusions
The reporting of elevated levels of depression, anxiety and stress in a subset of women more than 6 months following an ACS event underscores the importance of ongoing screening for risk factors impacting on psychological well-being and the inclusion of this information in education and counseling strategies in both the inpatient and outpatient settings. Based on these pilot data, consideration of a screening system in the immediate post discharge period for women at risk and an education or support service are recommended.