Investigation of the relationship between metacognition, resilience, self- compassion and test anxiety in HİGH school students

Although exams are the most common way to evaluate student performance, they can cause many problems for students. One of these problems is test anxiety. Studies show that metacognitive beliefs, resilience and self-compassion have significant effects on test anxiety. In this study, it was aimed to determine the relationship between sociodemographic data, beliefs about school and exams, students' perceptions of family attitudes, and metacognition, self-compassion, and resilience with test anxiety in high school students. The sample of the research consists of 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th grade students studying at Anatolian, Anatolian Imam Hatip, Science and Private High Schools in Pamukkale and Merkezefendi districts of Denizli province, which were randomly selected in the 2021-2022 academic year. An online questionnaire was sent to these students and their parents through their school counselors. The study was completed with the questionnaire forms, which were completely filled out by 336 volunteer participants, whose parents gave their consent. Sociodemographic Data Form, Westside Test Anxiety Scale, Metacognition Questionnaire for Children and Adolescents, Self-Compassion Scale Short Form, Child and Youth Resilience Measure were filled in by the students participating in the research. As a result of our study, test anxiety scores were found to be higher in female gender, younger age and grade level, those who were educated in Anatolian High School, those with low maternal education level, and those with low monthly family income. In addition, perceiving low school engagement and success, perceiving the course load too much, low amount of daily study, pressure from parents to study, and parents do not trust in success and have low expectations; It was found that poor friendship relations were associated with higher test anxiety levels. It was determined that students who admitted to child psychiatry services and students who were diagnosed with mental disorders had higher test anxiety scores. A positive correlation was found between the negative meta-anxiety, superstitions, punishment and responsibility beliefs, cognitive monitoring sub-dimension scores and total scores of the Metacognition Questionnaire and the Test Anxiety Scale scores. There was a negative correlation between Test Anxiety Scale scores and Self-Compassion Scale and Resilience Measure scores. Metacognition Questionnaire total scores was negatively correlated to both the Self-Compassion Scale and the Resilience Measure scores. A positive correlation was found between the total scores of the Self Compassion Scale and the total scores of the Resilience Measure scores. In conclusion; our study is important in terms of associating test anxiety with sociodemographic variables, students' beliefs about school and exams, and their perceptions of family attitudes. In this way, our research aims to determine the risk factors and protective factors for test anxiety; it can contribute to the literature on early intervention for students at risk. In addition, it can be thought that psychotherapeutic interventions in children and adolescents in areas that can be considered new such as metacognitive factors in test anxiety, resilience and self-compassion will positively affect students' test anxiety symptoms.