Using latent profile analysis to uncover the combined role of anxiety sensitivity and test anxiety in students’ state anxiety

BACKGROUND: Studies report a growing tendency for students to experience state anxiety in schools. However, the combination of individual susceptibilities likely to trigger students’ anxious states remains unclear. AIMS: This study examined whether distinct profiles of students emerge regarding their susceptibility to anxiety sensitivity and/or test anxiety and evaluated whether students’ profile predicted anxious states. We also verified whether susceptibility profiles varied across gender, school level, and school type. SAMPLE AND METHODS: In total, 1,404 Canadian students in Grades 5 and 10 (589 boys; M(age) = 15.2, SD = 2.1) from 13 public and private schools completed self-reported measures of state/trait anxiety, anxiety sensitivity, and test anxiety. RESULTS: Latent profile analyses identified four susceptibility profiles: (1) Double-susceptibility: highest anxiety sensitivity and test anxiety scores; (2) Unique-susceptibility to test anxiety: high test anxiety score and low anxiety sensitivity score; (3) Unique-susceptibility to anxiety sensitivity: high anxiety sensitivity score and low test anxiety score; and (4) No-susceptibility: lowest anxiety sensitivity and test anxiety scores. The profiles comprised 12, 9, 6, and 73% of the sample, respectively, and their membership varied across gender and school type, but not across school levels. A linear mixed-effect model showed that state anxiety varied significantly between profiles, where the Double-susceptibility profile predicted the highest state anxiety scores, followed by the two Unique-susceptibility profiles (indifferently), and the No-susceptibility profile. CONCLUSION: Beyond their theoretical contribution to the state–trait anxiety literature, these findings suggest that selective interventions designed more specifically for students with the Double-susceptibility profile may be worthwhile. Results also highlight the high proportion of students with the No-susceptibility profile and shed light on the reassuring portrait regarding students’ anxiety.