Questionnaire d’anxiété évaluative scolaire (QAES): the french adaptation of a short scale for youth

Abstract

Instruments used to measure test anxiety in school have generally been validated using English-speaking populations. Moreover, these instruments are often lengthy, making their administration in school settings more complex. Based on the Children’s Test Anxiety Scale (CTAS ; 2004), this paper develops a French adaptation titled Questionnaire d’anxiété évaluative scolaire (QAES), followed by a short version, the Questionnaire d’anxiété évaluative scolaire-Courte (QAES-C). The psychometric properties of the QAES-C were examined in two complementary studies involving 1,212 and 387 Quebec students, respectively. Exploratory factor analysis (Study 1) and confirmatory factor analysis (Study 2) revealed a structure reflecting the three components of test anxiety (i.e., cognitive, physiological and behavioral). In both studies, these three subscales demonstrated high internal consistency. Overall, the findings suggest that the QAES-C has satisfactory psychometric properties, supporting its use for assessing test anxiety among French-speaking adolescents.