Abstract

The goals of the present study were (a) to examine the relations of perfectionistic tendency, academic self-efficacy, and test anxiety; (b) to examine whether the association of perfectionism with test anxiety would be mediated by academic self-efficacy. Five hundred ninety-six female high-school students were asked to respond to the multidimensional perfectionism scale, academic self-efficacy scale, and test anxiety scale. Multiple regression and structural equation modeling techniques were employed to test research hypotheses. The results of the study were as follows: First, perfectionism such as doubt about action, concern over mistake and parental criticism were significantly associated with greater test anxiety. Second, perfectionism such as parental criticism, concern over mistake, and doubt about action led to the lower level of academic self-efficacy, whereas personal standard, parental expectation, and organization were positively related to academic self-efficacy. Third, in the sub-scales of academic self-efficacy, only confidence variable was significantly related to less test anxiety. Fourth, the results of regressing perfectionism on both test anxiety and academic self-efficacy showed that perfectionism was significantly associated with greater test anxiety and less academic self-efficacy. Also, higher academic self-efficacy resulted in lower test anxiety. Fifth, this study tested the model in which academic self-efficacy mediated the link between perfectionism and test anxiety. The results indicated that academic self-efficacy partially mediated the link between perfectionism and test anxiety. Potential implications of the present findings were discussed.