Self-perceived scholastic competence: teacher conditional support, sensitivity to errors and test-anxiety

Abstract

This paper presents a study that investigates the relationship between their perception of conditional positive and negative support from parents and teachers, and their self-perceived scholastic competence. We tested whether this relationship was mediated by sensitivity to errors and test-anxiety. The pupils filled out a questionnaire on the extent to which they perceived conditional positive and negative support from significant adults and their sensitivity to errors, test-anxiety, and feelings of scholastic competence. The results show that when controlling for conditional positive support, the more the pupils perceived conditional negative support from significant adults, the more they reported high levels of sensitivity to errors and test-anxiety, and the lower was their self-perceived scholastic competence. In contrast, when controlling for the conditional negative support, conditional positive support was not linked to self-perceived scholastic competence. The results confirm the detrimental effect of conditional negative support on the self-perceived scholastic competence.