Investigation of the relationship between exam anxiety, fear of negative evaluation and need for social approval in high school students

The aim of this research is to examine the relationship between high school seniors' exam anxiety, fear of negative evaluation and need for social approval. For this purpose, the research was carried out on a voluntary basis with a total of 225 students, including 137 girls and 88 boys attending the senior year of high school in İstanbul. Personal Information Form, Westside Exam Anxiety Scale, Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale and Need for Social Approval Scale were used within the scope of the research, which aimed to determine the demographic information of the participants. SPSS-25 statistical program was used in the analysis of the data obtained in the research. While the exam anxiety, fear of negative evaluation and the need for social approval of high school seniors were evaluated according to gender, age group and parental union status, independent groups t test; one-way anova analysis was used while evaluating according to mother's education level and father's education level. Tukey's test, one of the post-hoc tests, was used to determine the significant differences detected in the one-way anova analysis; The relationship between high school seniors' exam anxiety, fear of negative evaluation and need for social approval was evaluated with Pearson correlation analysis. As a result of the analysis, it was found that there was a positive and significant relationship between the exam anxiety, fear of negative evaluation the total score of the need for social approval and the dimensions of sensitivity to the judgments of others, social withdrawal and leaving a positive impression. The results of the research were interpreted based on the literature information.