Psychometric Analysis and Contribution to the Evaluation of the Exams-Related Emotions Scale in Primary and Secondary School Students

Abstract

The objective of this research was to perform a construct validity, and a psychometric analysis of the Exams-related Emotions Scale (EES), analyze the differences in their scores regarding gender and academic year in primary and secondary education student, as well as study the relationship between emotions and academic performance. During the construction and analysis of the psychometric characteristics of the scale, an Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and a Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) were performed. To test EES scores based on gender and school year, the T-Student test for independent samples and ANOVA were used, respectively. To verify the relationship between the scores of the different types of emotions and academic performance, the Pearson correlation test was performed. A total of 562 students belonging to the 5th (n = 228) and 6th (n = 186) primary school year and the 1st (n = 134) and 2nd (n = 94) secondary school year participated in the research. Age between 10 and 15 years old (mean = 11.66, standard deviation = 1.206) both males (50.5%) and females (49.5%). The results offered support for the three-factor structure. The analysis of invariance with respect to gender showed that the factor structure was invariant. Boys scored higher on the positive emotions factor and lower scores on anxiety than girls. Regarding school year, negative emotions and anxiety related to exams increase in the secondary courses compared to Primary while for positive emotions it is primary school students who obtain higher scores. The correlation coefficient between negative emotions (as well as anxiety) and school performance is negative whereas the correlation coefficient between positive emotions and academic performance is positive. EES scale is an instrument with scientific rigor and with adequate reliability and validity to be able to know the emotions that primary and secondary school students suffer when they are subjected to evaluation processes in the academic context.