The mediator role of emotion regulation difficulties in the relationship between parental acceptance-rejection and test anxiety

This study aims to examine how dimensions of perceived parental acceptance-rejection correlates with test anxiety, and what mediating role emotion regulation difficulties (awareness, clarity, non-acceptance, strategies, goals, and impulse) play in this relationship. The study sample was composed of a total of 284 high school students from two basic high schools in the province of Kocaeli. Participants were applied Demographical Information Form, Parental Acceptance-Rejection Questionnaire Child Short Form Mother and Father Version, Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale and Test Anxiety Inventory. Correlation analyses, independent samples t-tests, One-Way analysis of variances (ANOVA), Multivariate analysis of variances (MANOVA) and mediation analyses were performed through the aim of the present study. The findings of the present study revealed that both perceived parental rejection and test anxiety positively correlated with emotion regulation difficulties in addition to positive correlations between some subdimensions of parental rejection, test anxiety, and emotion regulation difficulties. Furthermore, gender, participants' father and mother education level differences were detected in the same measures. Lastly, the mediation analyses carried out showed that the relationship between maternal and paternal acceptance-rejection and test anxiety were mediated by clarity, nonacceptance, goals subdimensions of emotion regulation difficulties, but not awareness, strategies and impulse subdimension. The results of the study were evaluated in the light of the related literature, implications of the study were discussed and limitations of the study and recommendations for future research were explained.