Poster Session 05 Program Schedule
02/15/2024
02:30 pm - 03:45 pm
Room: Majestic Complex (Posters 61-120)
Poster Session 05: Neuropsychiatry | Addiction/Dependence | Stress/Coping | Emotional/Social Processes
Final Abstract #105
Relationship between Anxiety and Academic Motivation among College Students: Moderating Effect of Anxiety Sensitivity
Le Zheng, Oklahoma City University, Oklahoma City, United States
Lori Holmquist-Day, Oklahoma City University, Oklahoma City, United States
Daniel Heyanka, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, United States
Category: Mood and Anxiety Disorders
Keyword 1: anxiety
Objective:
Anxiety is one of the most prevalent mental health issues among college students in the United States. It can affect cognitive components of students and how adaptive they are academically and psychosocially (Ryan & Deci, 2000). In addition to anxiety, there have been a large body of studies investigating other constructs that might affect academic motivation. Yazd et al. (2020) showed that anxiety sensitivity - the fear of anxiety-related sensations - had a greater impact and higher ability to explain the variability of academic motivation. The purpose of this research is to examine the potential moderating effect of anxiety sensitivity on the relationship between anxiety and academic motivation.
Participants and Methods:
A total of 101 undergraduate students were recruited from Oklahoma City University, which represented diverse demographic (female: 61.39%; male: 38.61%) and educational backgrounds (freshmen: 38.61%; sophomores: 25.74%; juniors: 21.78%; seniors: 13.86%). The majority respondents identified themselves as White (53.47%), followed by Hispanic (10.89%), African American (8.91%), Native American (3.96%), Asian/Pacific Islander (1.98%), and multiple races (20.79%).
Three instruments were used to assess anxiety through Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) (Beck et al., 1988), academic motivation through Student Opinion Survey (SOS) (Sundre & Moore, 2002), and anxiety sensitivity through Anxiety Sensitivity Index-3 (ASI-3) (Taylor et al., 2007). Survey data were processed and analyzed using a hierarchical regression analysis to evaluate the moderating effect of anxiety sensitivity.
Results:
The results revealed that perceived anxiety and academic motivation was strongly related for participants with high level of anxiety sensitivity in the sense that anxious students with strong fear of the negative effect of anxiety-related sensations on cognitive process tended to have lower academic motivation compared to their counterparts with low level of anxiety sensitivity. These results were consistent with prior research findings that indicated a similar enhancing interaction due to the moderating effect of anxiety sensitivity on other types of psychosocial responses. The study by Babson et al. (2008) indicated that as levels of anxiety sensitivity, especially the fear of physical symptoms, increased, the physical component of sleep anticipatory anxiety was more strongly related to sleep onset latency. As a trait-like cognitive vulnerability, anxiety sensitivity could amplify preexisting anxiety levels and fearful reactions, therefore placing individuals at risk for the development of anxiety-related conditions (Olatunji & Wolitzky-Taylor, 2009).
Conclusions:
The present study provided emperical support for the significant moderating effect of anxiety sensitivity on the relationship between anxiety and academic motivaiton. It indicated that anxiety sensitivity has an enforcing effect in amplifying the negative influence of anxiety on academic motivation. These findings implicated that anxiety sensitivity can be a potential treatment target that could enhance outcomes for college students struggling with anxiety, academic motivation, and academic performance.
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