The test anxiety inventory: A confirmatory factor analysis

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The study was a confirmatory investigation of the factor structure of the Test Anxiety Inventory (TAI) proposed by Spielberger, Gonzalez, Taylor, Algaze, and Anton (1978). The subjects were 752 college students (200 men and 542 women; 10 subjects did not report gender). The viability of a two-factor (emotionality and worry) oblique model was examined as compared to a two-factor orthogonal model, a single-factor model, and a null model. Results clearly supported the two-factor oblique solution. In addition, the invariance of the TAI factor structure across gender was supported as results indicated that a two-factor oblique solution with equal loadings and equal factor covariances provided a good model fit across both men and women. It was noted that two particular items, though empirically confirmed, appeared to be placed on the wrong factors. In addition, the necessity for a twenty-item, as opposed to a sixteen-item, TAI was questioned as the internal consistencies (coefficient alpha) of the two versions were similar. Suggestions for possible revision of the instrument were made.