Influence of Emotional Intelligence and Goal Orientation on Test Anxiety among Emerging Adults

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21869003

Yanakal Ankitha and S. Kadhiravan (Department of Psychology, Periyar University, Salem, Tamil Nadu)

In the Modern Era, where education and career are unavoidable life attainments, test anxiety remains a major challenge in academic settings. It can affect academic performance and psychological well-being of students. Even though Emotional Intelligence is a widely recognized factor that affects anxiety, the conditions under which emotional intelligence alleviates or mitigates remains unexplored. This study assessed the influence of emotional intelligence and moderation effect of Goal Orientation on test anxiety. A cross-sectional study was employed with 255 college going students. Data were collected with the help of Test Anxiety Inventory (Komathi, 2015), Emotional Intelligence Inventory (Bar-on, 1997), and Goal Orientation Measure (Zweig & Webster, 2004). Results showed that test anxiety was negatively linked with emotional intelligence (r=-0.95, p<.001). Students also significantly differed in their test anxiety on the basis of demographic categories. Emotional intelligence has a significant negative influence on test anxiety and goal orientation plays a moderating role in test anxiety and emotional intelligence. From the results of this study, it is suggested that students with high test anxiety could be trained with achievement goal-oriented techniques, as well as by making them to be aware of their own emotions would be helpful in overcoming their academic challenges.