Adaptability vs. buoyancy: Which offers the greater protection against test anxiety and could relations be reciprocal?

In the present study we ask which of academic buoyancy and adaptability offers a greater degree of protection from test anxiety and whether academic buoyancy/adaptability relate to test anxiety in a reciprocal fashion. Data were collected in two waves from 1198 participants in upper secondary education. A structural equation model showed that academic buoyancy predicted subsequent all components of test anxiety. In contrast, adaptability only predicted tension, but with a negligible regression coefficient. Reciprocal relations were shown for the worry component of test anxiety but not adaptability. We concluded that academic buoyancy offered greater protection from test anxiety than adaptability. Adaptive regulation of cognition, behaviour, and emotion, may assist students to become more buoyant and less anxious in the face of exam pressures.