An Prediction of Hopelessness and State-Trait Anxiety Levels among Teacher Candidates before the KPSS Exam
Year: 2007
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: In this study, the levels of hopelessness and state-trait anxiety among teacher candidates before taking the State Employees Selection Exam (KPSS) were investigated. The research was carried out with 403 volunteer teacher candidates. Of them, 271 seniors who were attending classes at Cukurova University in 2005-2006 Spring and 132 were newly-graduated teacher candidates from various other universities. The data collection tools in the study were the Personal Information Form prepared by the researchers, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and the Beck Hopelessness Scale. In the data analysis, t-test, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and stepwise regression analyses were used. After the analyses, significant differences were found as in the following order: a) the hopelessness levels among the teacher candidates on gender and major, b) the trait anxiety and the hopelessness levels regarding to previous KPSS experiences and attendance to a KPSS preparation course and, c) the hopelessness and the state-trait anxiety levels in terms of the contribution of the educational training courses offered at teacher candidates during their pre-service education. As for the results on among the new graduates, it was seen that state anxiety was the first factor in predicting their hopelessness levels followed by trait anxiety levels and gender. The rank of the predictors for the seniors were found to be trait anxiety, state anxiety and, the last KPSS experience. Key Words Teacher Candidates, Exam, Anxiety, Hopelessness. In a general, anxiety can be defined as an emotional reaction existing in the human nature against the environmental and psychological events (Spielberg & Vagg, 1995). Hill and Wigfield (1984) investigated the effects of the anxiety state and found that exams increase the anxiety of students which in turn leads to stress and hopelessness. Besides, many research studies carried out on anxiety show that performance, success and problem-solving skills decrease as the levels of anxiety increase (Zeidner, 1998; Keogh, Bond, French, Richards & Davis, 2004; Chang, 2006; Moran & Hughes, 2006), Hopelessness is defined as a negative expectation for the future, in other words as pessimism (Beck, Steer, Kovacks & Garrison, 1985; Brener, Krug & Simon, 2000; Kashani, Soltys, Dandoy, Vaidya & Reid, 1991). The negative perceptions of individuals about themselves, about the future and the world are seen as the most important factors causing hopelessness (Abramson, Metalsky & Alloy, 1989; Ceyhun, 1993; Cuhadaroglu, 1993). Considering the conditions of seniors and graduate teacher candidates in Turkey, it can be said that they live in an intensive hopelessness and the reason of it can be expressed as the fear of not being employed after their graduation (Gokcakan & Gokcakan, 1998). The main objective of this study is to investigate the levels of hopelessness and state-trait anxiety among teacher candidates before taking the State Employees Selection Exam (KPSS). In accordance with this main objective, the following sub-objectives were also investigated. (i) Do hopelessness and state-trait anxiety levels of the teacher candidates who will take the KPSS exam differ significantly with respect to gender, age, educational background, previous KPSS exam experience, attendance to a KPSS preparation course, and contributions of the educational training courses given at university? (ii) Among the variables, gender, age, educational background, previous KPSS exam experience, attendance to a KPSS preparation course and contributions of the educational training courses given at university, which is a better predictor of hopelessness and the state trait-anxiety levels among senior teacher candidates and the graduated teacher candidates? Method Participants The participants of the study were a total of 403 volunteer teacher candidates of whom 271 senior teacher candidates attending classes at Cukurova University in 2005-2006 Spring Term and 132 teacher candidates who graduated from various other universities. …
Authors: Songül Tümkaya, Birsel Aybek, Metehan Çelik
Language: English
Topic: Student Stress and Coping
Subfield: Developmental and Educational Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W2111105618