Academic Motivation, Locus of Control, Psychological Distress Study Habits as Determinants of Test Anxiety among Medical Students

This study investigated academic motivation, locus of control, psychological distress, study habits and test anxiety among medical students of Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago Iwoye, Ogun State. One hundred and sixty (160) respondents participated in this study. Five instruments and a screening measure were used in the study. They included “Westside Test Anxiety Scale” (WTAS) which was used for screening the respondents; “Academic Motivation Scale” (AMS); “Locus of Control Scale”; “Psychological Distress Scale” (10- K); “Beck Anxiety Inventory” and “Study Habit Inventory”. Three research questions were raised and answered in the study. Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC) and Multiple Regression Analysis were the statistical tools used to process the data collected in this study. The result obtained from the first research question indicated that test anxiety correlated with academic motivation, locus of control, psychological distress and study habit. Also, the result of the second research question showed that the independent variables when combined together have significant relationship with test anxiety. The results of the third research question revealed that all the four predicting factors (academic motivation, locus of control, psychological distress and study habit) are potent predictors of test anxiety. The most potent of all the factors was study habit (β=0.517, t =7.529, P<0-.05). The implication of these findings is that students with high facilitating anxiety test scores have effective study skills while those with high debilitating anxiety test scores have less effective study skills. In other words, students that have good study skills are more likely to have lower test anxiety scores and vice versa.