Cue-controlled relaxation : a behavioral approach for reducing test anxiety in elementary school children

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of cue-controlled relaxation on reducing test anxiety of elementary school children. The major research hypothesis was as follows: There will be a statistically significant difference in posttest median scores obtained on the Test Anxiety Scale for Children among the cue-controlled relaxation treatment, the treatment placebo and the no-treatment control groups.The research was conducted at Heidelberg American Elementary School Number Two, a Department of Defense school located in West Germany. Nine fourth and fifth grade teachers volunteered their intact classes for this study. The intact classes were randomly assigned to one of three experimental conditions: cue-controlled relaxation, treatment placebo or no-treatment control. All students who had parental permission received their assigned experimental conditions; however, only students who received parental permission, scored 13 or higher on the pretest and who were present for the posttest were designated as subjects. Students who did not receive parental permission were taken to the library during pretesting, posttesting and when the experimental conditions were being given.The Sarason Test Anxiety Scale for Children (TASC) was used to measure test anxiety before treatment and after treatment. The TASC consists of 30 items relating to test anxiety. Each item was read to the students by their teachers. The students then responded by circling "yes" or "no" on the answer sheets.An extension of the median test for k independent samples was used to test the major null hypothesis. A chi square of 2.192 was obtained from the median test, which was not significant at the .05 level. Therefore, it was concluded that there was no statistically significant difference in TASC posttest scores among the cue-controlled relaxation, the treatment placebo and the no-treatment control groups.Thesis (D. Ed.