The present study was designed to investigate the relationship among locus of control (LOC), religious orientation (RO) and test anxiety (TA) among Iranian EFL learners. Furthermore, it scrutinized the role of gender on these variables. To achieve such goals, 100 Iranian EFL students (57 females, 43 males) studying English at Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman participated in the study. These students were randomly selected from junior and senior students majoring in English Translation and English Literature. In order to obtain the required data, three questionnaires were utilized: Rotters’s (1966) locus of control scale (LOCS) to measure participants’ level of LOC, Sarason’s (1975) test anxiety scale (TAS) to measure participants’ TA, and Allport and Ross’s (1967) religious orientation scale (ROS) to determine participants’ intrinsic or extrinsic religious orientation. For analysis of data, Pearson Product Moment Correlation and T-test were used. The results revealed that there was a significant negative relationship between ILOC and TA and a significant positive relationship between ELOC and TA. Furthermore, there was a significant positive relationship between ILOC and IRO and a significant positive relationship between ELOC and ERO. Also, there was a significant negative relationship between ILOC and TA, and a significant positive relationship between ELOC and TA. Finally, there were not any significant differences among males and females regarding ILOC, ELOC, TA, IRO, and ERO.
KeywordsLocus of Control (LOC)Test Anxiety (TA)Religious Orientation (RO)Gender
Abolghasemi, A., AsadiMoghadam, A., Najarian, B., & Shokrkon, H. (1996). Scale reliability for measurement of test anxiety of Ahwaz’s guidance school girls. Journal of Psychological and Educational Sciences of Ahwaz Chamran University, 3, 61-74.
Allport, G. W., & Ross, J. M. (1967). Personal religious orientation and prejudice. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 5, 432-443. doi:10.1037/h0021212
Archer, R. P. (1979). Relationships between locus of control and anxiety. Journal of Personality Assessment, 43, 617-626. doi:10.1207/s15327752jpa4306_10
Baker, M., & Gorsuch, R. (1982). Trait anxiety and intrinsic-extrinsic religiousness. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 21, 119. doi:10.2307/1385497
Batson, C. D., Schoenrade, P., & Ventis, W. L. (1993). Religion and the individual: A social psychological perspective. New York: Oxford University Press.
Beekman, A. T. F., de Beurs, E., von Balkom, A. J. L. M., Deeg, D. J. H., van, Dyck, R., & van Tilburh, W. (2000). Anxiety and depression in later life: Co-occurrence and communality of risk factors. American Journal of Psychiatry, 157, 89-95.
Beit-Hallahmi, B., & Argyle, M. (1997). The psychology of religious behaviour, belief and experience. London: Routledge.
Bergin, A. E., Masters, K. S., & Richards, P. S. (1987) Religiousness and psychological well-being re-considered: A study of an intrinsically religious sample. Journal of Counselling Psychiatry, 34, 197204. doi:10.1037/0022-0167.34.2.197
Berrenberg, J. L. (1987). The belief in personal control scale: A measure of God mediated and exaggerated control. Journal of Personality Assessment, 51, 194-206. doi:10.1207/s15327752jpa5102_4
Brown, L. B. (1987). The psychology of religious belief. London: Academic Press.
Carden, R., Bryant, C., & Moss, R. (2004). Locus of control, test anxiety, academic procrastination, and achievement among college students. Psychological Reports, 95, 581-582. doi:10.2466/pr0.95.2.581-582
Depreeuw, E., & DeNeve, H. (1992). Test anxiety can harm your health: Some conclusions based on a student typology. In D. G. Forgays, T. Sosnowski, & K. Wrzesniewski (Eds.), Anxiety: Recent developments in cognitive, psycho physiological, and health research (pp. 211-228). Washington: Hemisphere.
Fan, X., Chen, M., & Matsumoto, A. (1997). Gender differences in mathematics achievement: Findings from the national education longitudinal study of 1988. The Journal of Experimental Education, 65, 229-242. doi:10.1080/00220973.1997.9943456
Francis, L. J. (1993). Personality and religion among college students in the UK. Personality and Individual Differences, 14, 619-622. doi:10.1016/0191-8869(93)90159-Z
Gabbard, C. E., Howard, G. S., & Tageson, C. W. (1986). Assessing locus of control with religious populations. Journal of Research in Personality, 20, 292-308. doi:10.1016/0092-6566(86)90136-4
Hembree, R. (1988). Correlates, causes, effects, and treatment of test anxiety. Review of Educational Research, 58, 7-77. doi:10.3102/00346543058001047
Hyde, J. S., Fennema, E., & Lamon, S. (1990). Gender differences in mathematics performance: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 107, 139-155. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.107.2.139
Kahoe, R. D. (1974). Personality and achievement correlates of intrinsic and extrinsic religious orientations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 29, 812-818. doi:10.1037/h0036222
Koenig, H. G., George, L. K., & Peterson, B. L. (1998). Religiosity and remission of depression in medically ill older patients. American Journal of Psychiatry, 155, 536-542.
Lashkaripour, K., Bakhshani, N. M., & Soleymani, M. J. (2007). The relationship between test anxiety and academic achievement in students of guidance school in Zahedan. Zahedan Journal of Research in Medical, 8, 253-259.
Maltby, J., & Day, L. (2000). Depressive symptoms and religious orientation: Examining the relationship between religiosity and depression within the context of other correlates of depression. Personality and Individual Differences, 28, 383-393. doi:10.1016/S0191-8869(99)00108-7
Maltby, J., Lewis, C. A., & Day, L. (1999). Religion orientation and psychological wellbeing: The role of the frequency of personal prayer. British Journal of Health, 4, 363-378. doi:10.1348/135910799168704
McIntosh, D. N., Kojetin, B. A., & Spilka, B. (1985). Form of personal faith and general and specific locus of control. The Annual Meeting of the Rocky Mountains Psychological Association, Tucson, 24-27 April 1985.
McLaughlin, S. C., & Saccuzzo, D. P. (1997). Ethnic and gender differences in locus of control in children referred for gifted programs: The effects of vulnerability factors. Journal for the Education of the Gifted, 20, 268-283.
Moore, M. M. (2006). Variation in test anxiety and locus of control in achieving and underachieving gifted and non-gifted middle-school students. Doctoral Dissertation, Storrs, CT: University of Connecticut.
Mousavi, M., Hghshenas, H., & Alishahi, M. J. (2008). Effect of gender, school performance, and school type on test anxiety among Iranian adolesecent. Iranian Red Cresent Medical Journal (IRCMJ), 10, 4-7.
Nowicki, S., & Strickland, B. R. (1973). A locus of control scale for children. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 40, 148154. doi:10.1037/h0033978
Pajares, F., & Graham, L. (1999). Self-efficacy, motivation constructs, and mathematics performance of entering middle school students. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 24, 124-139. doi:10.1006/ceps.1998.0991
Putwain, D. W. (2007). Test anxiety in UK schoolchildren: Prevalence and demographic patterns. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 77, 579-593. doi:10.1348/000709906X161704
Paloutzian, R. F. (1996). Invitation to the psychology of religion (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.
Rotter, J. B. (1966). Generalized expectancies for internal versus external control of reinforcement. Psychology Monographs, 80, 1-28. doi:10.1037/h0092976
Sarason, I. G. (1975). The test anxiety scale: Concept and research. In I. G. Sarason, & C. D. Spielberger (Eds.), Stress and anxiety (pp. 193-217). Washington DC: Hemisphere.
Sarason, I. G., & Sarason, B. R. (1990). Test anxiety. In H. Leitenberg (Ed.), Handbook of social and evaluative anxiety (pp. 475-496). New York: Plenum Press.
Spielberger, C. D. (1972). Current trends in theory and research on anxiety. In C. D. Spielberger (Ed.), Anxiety: Current trends in theory and research (pp. 3-9). New York and London: Academic Press.
Strickland, B. R., & Shaffer, S. (1971). I-E, I-E, & F. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 10, 366-369. doi:10.2307/1384782
Sturgeon, R. S., & Hamley, R. W. (1979). Religiosity and anxiety. The Journal of Social Psychology, 108, 137-138. doi:10.1080/00224545.1979.9711977
Vitasari, P., Nubli, A. M., Othman, A., Herrawan, T., & Sinnadurai, S. K. (2010). The relationship between study anxiety and academic performance among engineering students. Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences, 8, 490-497. doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2010.12.067
Walter, T., & Davie, G. (1998). The religiosity of women in the modern West. British Journal of Sociology, 49, 640-660. doi:10.2307/591293
Watson, D. (1967). Relationship between locus of control and anxiety. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 6, 91-92. doi:10.1037/h0024490
Watson , P. J., Gborbani, N., Davison, H. k., Bing, M. N., Hood Jr., R. W., & Ghramaleki, A. F. (2002). Negatively reinforcing orientation inner awareness and mental health in Iran and the United States. The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 12, 255-276. doi:10.1207/S15327582IJPR1204_04
Young, T., & Shorr, D. N. (1986). Factors affecting locus of control in school children. Genetic, Social, and General Psychology Monographs, 112, 405-417.
Zeidner, M. (1998). Test anxiety: The state of the art. New York: Plenum Press.