A Validity Investigation of the Achievement Anxiety Test

Since 1960 educational researchers have been using the Achievement Anxiety Test (AAT), which presumably measures independent aspects of achievement anxiety: facilitating and debilitating components. In several earlier investigations, developers have reported construct and predictive validity of the subscales from their use of anxiety measures and performance criteria. However, the hypothesized independence of the subscales and underlying factor structure of the test have been overlooked. Because the two subscales have been used to provide a difference score, the status of the interrelationship between the subscales is of concern. This study was concerned with the concurrent validity of the AAT and with its factor structure to provide empirical evidence about the quality of AAT.