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. 2022 Dec 21:13:1035494.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1035494. eCollection 2022.

Using latent profile analysis to uncover the combined role of anxiety sensitivity and test anxiety in students' state anxiety

Audrey-Ann Journault  1   2   3 , Isabelle Plante  4 , Sandrine Charbonneau  1   2   3 , Claudia Sauvageau  1   2 , Charlotte Longpré  1   2   3 , Charles-Édouard Giguère  2 , Carolanne Labonté  1 , Kassandra Roger  1 , Rebecca Cernik  1   2   5   6 , Kathryn Everhart Chaffee  4 , Laurence Dumont  1   2 , Réal Labelle  2   6 , Sonia J Lupien  1   2   3   5
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Using latent profile analysis to uncover the combined role of anxiety sensitivity and test anxiety in students' state anxiety

Audrey-Ann Journault et al. Front Psychol. .

Abstract

Background: Studies report a growing tendency for students to experience state anxiety in schools. However, the combination of individual susceptibilities likely to trigger students' anxious states remains unclear.

Aims: This study examined whether distinct profiles of students emerge regarding their susceptibility to anxiety sensitivity and/or test anxiety and evaluated whether students' profile predicted anxious states. We also verified whether susceptibility profiles varied across gender, school level, and school type.

Sample and methods: In total, 1,404 Canadian students in Grades 5 and 10 (589 boys; M age = 15.2, SD = 2.1) from 13 public and private schools completed self-reported measures of state/trait anxiety, anxiety sensitivity, and test anxiety.

Results: Latent profile analyses identified four susceptibility profiles: (1) Double-susceptibility: highest anxiety sensitivity and test anxiety scores; (2) Unique-susceptibility to test anxiety: high test anxiety score and low anxiety sensitivity score; (3) Unique-susceptibility to anxiety sensitivity: high anxiety sensitivity score and low test anxiety score; and (4) No-susceptibility: lowest anxiety sensitivity and test anxiety scores. The profiles comprised 12, 9, 6, and 73% of the sample, respectively, and their membership varied across gender and school type, but not across school levels. A linear mixed-effect model showed that state anxiety varied significantly between profiles, where the Double-susceptibility profile predicted the highest state anxiety scores, followed by the two Unique-susceptibility profiles (indifferently), and the No-susceptibility profile.

Conclusion: Beyond their theoretical contribution to the state-trait anxiety literature, these findings suggest that selective interventions designed more specifically for students with the Double-susceptibility profile may be worthwhile. Results also highlight the high proportion of students with the No-susceptibility profile and shed light on the reassuring portrait regarding students' anxiety.

Keywords: anxiety sensitivity; latent profile analysis; school; state anxiety; students; test anxiety.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Schematic representation of the study design and testing periods. STAI-C = State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children, CASI = Childhood Anxiety Sensitivity Index, CTAS = Children’s Test Anxiety Scale.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Mean scaled scores of test anxiety and anxiety sensitivity by latent profile.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Latent profiles’ membership across genders (A), school levels (B), and school types (C). *p < 0.05.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Levels of state anxiety as a function of students’ latent profile. *p < 0.001.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Levels of trait anxiety as a function of students’ latent profile. *p < 0.001.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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