The problem of anxiety, which affects various aspects of life including education, remains urgent [1]. Educational activities and various environmental factors at school often trigger and exacerbate anxiety, tension, excitement, self-doubt, negative expectations, and emotional instability in children.

A.M. Prikhozhan interprets anxiety as a state of emotional discomfort associated with a premonition of impending danger and the expectation of trouble [2].

R.S. Nemov defines anxiety as a constant or situational tendency to experience agitation, fear, and apprehension within specific social contexts [3].

One of the most common anxiety frameworks is the Spielberger–Hanin scale, which distinguishes between trait (personal) and state (situational) anxiety. Trait anxiety is a stable individual characteristic reflecting the tendency to experience apprehension or worry in various situations. Situational anxiety occurs in response to specific circumstances and events [4, 5].

There is no age immune to anxiety, but adolescence is justly considered the most vulnerable period of life in this respect, given the background of hormonal processes, emotional instability, and rapid social and physical development [2].

The factors triggering negative emotions include both individual variables, such as gender, personality traits, and age, and external influences, such as traumatic events and the immediate school environment [6].

As adolescents spend a significant portion of their time in educational institutions, school-related factors are among the primary contributors to their increased anxiety [7–9]. Such factors include high learning and school-related workloads, educational innovations, exams and tests, grades, a large amount of homework, conflicts with classmates, teachers, etc. [10, 11].

Symptoms of anxiety can include nervousness, agitation, increased excitability, insecurity, drowsiness, tension, absent-mindedness, fatigue, restlessness, emotional instability [5, 12]. They depend on the individual characteristics of the body, environmental factors, and the severity of anxiety.

The consequences of anxiety can be seen in all areas of human life, affecting psychological well-being, health, behavior, and relationships in society. Anxiety itself can impair cognitive functions and undermine educational outcomes. Its severity reduces schoolchildren's productivity and academic performance, hampers parenting efforts, weakens peer relationships, hinders adaptation to new conditions, and disrupts overall physiological health.

Employing psychodiagnostic tools, this study assessed how anxiety levels influence the academic achievement of today’s adolescents.

METHODS

The study was conducted at the A. Platonov school in Voronezh; it involved 84 9th grade pupils, 45 girls and 39 boys. They filled out the B. Phillips School Anxiety Test and the Spielberger–Hanin Anxiety Scale for the purpose of determining the level of anxiety.

The Spielberger–Hanin psychodiagnostic scale distinguishes between trait (personal) and state (situational) anxiety, which allows assessing it as both a personal characteristic and a reaction to the current situation.

In addition to measuring the overall level of school-associated anxiety, the B. Phillips psychodiagnostic method enables analysis of several factors related to the learning process and educational activities of pupils, including frustration of the need to succeed, social stress, fear of self-expression, fear of knowledge tests, fear of not meeting the expectations of others, low physiological stress resistance, problems and fears in relationships with teachers.

At the next stage of the study, we calculated the mean academic performance score of the participants (all subjects) and assessed the relationship between academic performance and anxiety.

Statistical processing of the collected data involved methods of parametric and nonparametric analysis. We calculated relative values (P) and relative errors (mp). The Mann–Whitney U test was used to compare the obtained indicators, and Spearman's rank correlation coefficient (rs) was used to analyze the relationship between the two variables. The differences were considered statistically significant at p ≤ 0.05. Statistica 6.0 (StatSoft; USA) was used for statistical processing of the results.

RESULTS

The Spielberger–Hanin scale revealed a moderate level of situational anxiety in the majority of the participating schoolchildren. High level was recorded in 22.62 ± 4.52% of pupils, low level — in 15.48 ± 3.95%.  There were also gender differences: a stressful situation had a pronounced effect on 33.3 ± 7.03% of girls and 12.82 ± 5.35% of boys, and a weak effect on 15.56 ± 5.40% of girls and 15.38 ± 5.78% of boys.

Compared with state anxiety, the level of trait anxiety was higher: is was intense in 33.33 ± 5.14% of schoolchildren, moderate — in 57.14 ± 5.40%, and low in 9.52 ± 3.20% of them. Gender-wise, we registered a high level of trait anxiety in 23.08 ± 6.75% of boys and 40% ± 7.3% of girls.

The intensity of anxiousness varied depending on gender. The values of the anxiety indicators were higher in girls than in boys.  Mathematical and statistical processing of the results using the Mann–Whitney U test (p ≤ 0.05) confirmed the gender-modified significance of the differences in indicators of state (U_Emp = 600) and trait anxiety (U_Emp = 593). The empirical values obtained were in the zone of significance.

The B. Phillips test has shown the general anxiety level to be high in 7.14 ± 2.81% of respondents, increased — in 15.48 ± 3.95%. For the overwhelming majority of the participants, school factors were not traumatic, and the state of anxiety was either mild or within the normal range. They exhibited a fairly even emotional background and an adequate assessment of the current situation. It should be noted that this test revealed high degree of anxiety only in female respondents. The study data confirm that boys tend to be more emotionally stable than girls, with statistically significant results (U_Emp = 611, p < 0.05).

The school anxiety factors, as determined by the B. Phillips test, differed in their severity (tab. 1).

Fear of knowledge tests was the most common factor. It was registered in 60.67% ± 5.33% of schoolchildren: 14.28 ± 3.82% had it at a high level, 46.43 ± 5.44% — at an elevated level. Anxiety caused by failure to meet the expectations of others was seen in 51.19 ± 5.45% of ninth graders (9.52 ± 3.2% — high level, 41.67 ± 5.38% — elevated level).  These schoolchildren worry about the grades they receive, depend on the opinions of other people, and focus on the others' evaluations of their actions and performance. Half of the respondents had a fear of self-expression: a high level thereof was registered in 13.10 ± 3.68% of participants, elevated level — in 36.90 ± 5.26% of them. This fear reflects the negative attitude of schoolchildren towards public speaking, the necessary demonstration of their knowledge, skills, and abilities in the presence of a personally significant audience of listeners. The fear of speaking in public can further provoke agitation, self-doubt, lack of self-reliance and trust in own capabilities.  Problems in relations with teachers were a factor that manifested at a high level in 9.52 ± 3.2% of adolescents, at an elevated level — in 23.81 ± 4.65%. The other stress factors considered — frustration of the need to succeed, social stress, low physiological resistance to stress — were at high and elevated levels in fewer participants, and their contribution to the overall level of school anxiety was less significant.

Anxiety has quite a significant effect on the learning process of adolescents. It manifests as subjectively experienced agitation, tension, and preoccupation, which are associated with various stressful situations: exams, knowledge control and verification papers, tests, surveys, etc.

In this connection, at the next stage of the study, we calculated the mean academic performance score for ninth graders (all subjects) and used Spearman's rank correlation coefficient to examine its relationship with anxiety.

The indicators of general (school-associated), state, and trait anxiety differed between groups with varying levels of academic achievement (tab. 2). In most cases, children whose marks were primarily "good" and "satisfactory" exhibited high state anxiety. Those who predominantly got "good" grades had a high level of trait and school-associated anxiety more often than other groups of participants.

However, statistical analysis of the data obtained did not show a significant relationship between the studied academic performance indicators and anxiety. We registered a very weak negative relationship between school grades and state anxiety (rs = –0.078), trait anxiety (rs = –0.008), and school anxiety (rs = –0.241). In our opinion, the link connecting anxiety and academic performance may be closer than initially thought. The complex cause-and-effect relationships between schoolchildren's levels of anxiety and their academic performance can be viewed from different angles: on the one hand, intense anxiety can lower grades; on the other, poor performance may heighten anxiety.

DISCUSSION

Academic performance reflects the degree of success of educational efforts. Anxiety can affect the effectiveness of learning in different ways, both positive and negative [18, 19]. 

Studies [20, 21] established that high academic performance is more often observed among students with a high degree of state and trait anxiety.

There is evidence to the contrary, though: studies [10, 22–25] have shown that high anxiety hinders academic performance. It has a comprehensive negative impact on cognitive processes, motivation, and educational success of adolescents.

Another study reported that moderate anxiety did not interfere with learning or academic performance [26]. Moreover, a certain level of anxiety motivates schoolchildren to successful learning activities. 

Studies [18, 27–29], same as our work, have not revealed unambiguous relationship between anxiety and academic performance.

The data from our study show the complexity and ambiguity of the relationship between anxiety and academic performance. It can be assumed that this relationship can become both positive and negative, depending on the influence of certain factors. 

Prevention of anxiety is necessary for maintaining the emotional health of schoolchildren. Preventive and psychocorrective efforts should be comprehensive [30], involving all participants in the educational process: children, parents, teachers, psychologists, social educators, and others.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings indicate that the majority of ninth graders exhibit a normal level of anxiety. The figures were as follows: 22.62 ± 4.52% of children had elevated and high levels of general school anxiety, 33.33 ± 5.14% — high levels of trait anxiety, and 22.62 ± 4.52% showed high levels of state anxiety. The most stressful situations were associated with knowledge tests, fear of not meeting the expectations of others, fear of self-expression, and problems and fears in relationships with teachers. The intensity of disturbing emotions was gender-dependent: girls were more prone to anxiety than boys. Statistical analysis did not reveal an unambiguous influence of trait, state, and general school anxiety on the academic success of ninth graders. In all likelihood, the impact of anxiety on the learning activities of schoolchildren can be both negative and positive, depending on various factors. At the same time, we assume that there is no direct causal relationship between anxiety and academic performance. This relationship depends on many factors, including relationships with parents and peers, the level of self-esteem and attitudes towards academic performance in general, as well as the conditions this study has been conducted in.