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Anxiety, academic achievement, and academic self-concept: Meta-analytic syntheses of their relations across developmental periods

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 May 2022

Laura E. Brumariu*
Affiliation:
Gordon F. Derner School of Psychology, Adelphi University, Garden City, NY, USA
Stephanie M. Waslin
Affiliation:
Gordon F. Derner School of Psychology, Adelphi University, Garden City, NY, USA
Marissa Gastelle
Affiliation:
Department of Psychological Sciences, Kent State University, Kent, OH, USA
Logan B. Kochendorfer
Affiliation:
Department of Psychological Sciences, Kent State University, Kent, OH, USA
Kathryn A. Kerns
Affiliation:
Department of Psychological Sciences, Kent State University, Kent, OH, USA
*
Corresponding author: Laura E. Brumariu, email: lbrumariu@adelphi.edu

Abstract

This systematic review examined how anxiety symptoms and anxiety disorders relate to academic achievement, school dropout, and academic self-concept. Studies with children or adult samples were included in seven meta-analyses (ks for number of samples ranged from 5 to 156; N’s for participants ranged from 780 to 37, 203). Results revealed significant but very small effect sizes for the relations between anxiety and overall academic achievement (r = −.06), language achievement (r = −.07), and math achievement (r = −.09), and a nonsignificant effect size for science achievement (r = −.01). Participants with greater anxiety were also significantly more likely to not complete high school (r = .11). They also had a poorer overall academic self-concept (r = −.25) and mathematics self-concept (r = −.30). Few methodological moderators (e.g., study design, age) were significant. Results show that anxiety does not strongly hinder academic achievement, but it is an important correlate of dropout and academic self-concept, which in turn could contribute to poorer life outcomes. Interventions and preventive programs need to consider ways to ameliorate the relations of anxiety with academic outcomes, especially school continuation and academic self-concept. Future studies should identify risk factors that may amplify these relations.

Information

Type
Regular Article
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press

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