The mediating effect of locus of control in the relationship between socially-prescribed perfectionism and test anxiety

Prior research has shown associations between external locus of control and test anxiety and between socially-prescribed perfectionism and test anxiety. However, to date, no studies have examined locus of control and perfectionism jointly in their relationship to test anxiety. Personal standards and generalized expectancies for control play integral roles in the self-regulation model of test anxiety. Thus, this model provides a template for understanding the relationships among perfectionism, locus of control, and test anxiety. The author of the present study hypothesized that external locus of control moderates the relationship between socially-prescribed perfectionism and test anxiety, such that external locus of control significantly strengthens the relationship between socially-prescribed perfectionism and test anxiety. Moderation analyses failed. However, both general locus of control and academic locus of control were found to be mediators of the relationship between socially-prescribed perfectionism and test anxiety.