engleski

Perfectionism, Automatic Thoughts in Exam Situations and Test Anxiety in Relation to University Students' Mental Health

Introduction Students cope with their academic challenges in different ways. They also experience different emotional states and thinking patterns during their studies. Some of them are effective and others can undermine their academic success and functioning in general. The aim of this study was to investigate a contribution of different psychological risk factors, specifically, perfectionism, automatic thoughts in exam situations and test anxiety, to mental health of university students. Method A total number of 222 university students participated in the study. They were recruited via social networks groups of the university students from the different faculties in Croatia. Students filled out several online questionnaires ; Frost multidimensional perfectionism scale with six subscales (concern over mistakes, personal standards, parental expectations, parental criticism, doubts about actions, and organization), Automatic thoughts in exams situations questionnaire with 4 subscales (fear of failure, fear of disappointing parents, lack of motivation and interest, positive thoughts), Test anxiety questionnaire and Mental health inventory with 2 subscales (distress and wellbeing). Results The first hierarchical regression analysis with distress as a criterion revealed that concern over mistakes (perfectionism), fear of failure (automatic thoughts) and test anxiety contributed to distress in students. Furthermore, the effect of concern over mistakes was mediated by fear of failure and test anxiety. Second hierarchical regression analysis with the wellbeing as a criterion showed that doubts about actions and organization (perfectionism), as well as positive automatic thought and fear of failure (automatic thoughts) predicted wellbeing in students, while test anxiety had no significant effects. Furthermore, the effect of doubts about actions was mediated by fear of failure. Discussion The results of our study confirm that perfectionism, negative thoughts in exam situations, as well as test anxiety contribute negatively to mental health of university students. Moreover, good organization and positive thoughts in exam situations contribute to students' wellbeing. The results also suggest the importance of restructuring of negative thoughts, practicing affirmative thinking, improvement of organization skills and coping with exam situations in mental health prevention programs for university students.

Mental health ; perfectionism ; automatic thoughts ; test anxiety ; university students

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