Is test anxiety bad for everyone’s academic performance? A multi-layered moderation analysis

Abstract Test anxiety affects many students across the globe and undermines students’ academic achievement. However, the negative impact of anxiety might not be uniform, with some individuals suffering more from its deleterious consequences. This study examined whether the effect of students’ test anxiety on achievement is moderated by socioeconomic status (SES). The study used the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) data from 387,107 adolescents (50% girls, Mean age = 15.80, SD = 0.29) nested within 51 countries. Multi-layered moderation analysis (MLMA) was conducted. The results showed that the effect of test anxiety on achievement was negative for most students. More interestingly, the effect fluctuated in an S- shaped pattern with an increase in SES. For low SES students (1.40% to 2.40% of the total sample), the effect of test anxiety was generally negative, but this negative effect gradually became weaker with an increase in SES. For medium SES students (76.90% to 81.60%), the negative effect of test anxiety became more severe with an accompanying increase in SES. For high SES students (17.00% to 20.70%), the negative effect gradually disappeared. For very-high SES students (0.03%), the test anxiety effect became positive and gradually increased with an increase in SES. Overall, it seems that test anxiety was more detrimental to the performance of students with lower SES but was not that harmful or even beneficial for higher-SES students. This study contributes to the test anxiety literature by documenting the role of SES and suggests the need for interventions targeting test anxiety among disadvantaged students.