Final Paper Seminar

African American and anxiety 1
African American and anxiety
A Study Investigating the Effects of State Anxiety and Gender on Executive Function among
African American College Students.
Awonti Etoo Ndjongo
Bowie State University

Abstract
The present study examined the relationship between gender and different levels of state anxiety
on executive functioning among African American college students at Bowie State University.
The participants were randomly chosen from an introductory psychology class, and there was no
specific criteria for participants’ recruitment. This study is important because it looks at African
American students, a population which is rarely looked into as the main focus of the study.
Findings from this study will help point out the effects anxiety has on executive functioning
among African American students in order for them to be able to find a way to deal with their
anxiety if it affects any aspect of their life which is related to executive functioning. Anxiety was
measured using a self-report State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, and executive functioning was
measured using the Behavior Rating Inventory Executive Function inventory, which was also
self-reported. Gender was also looked at in the analysis; as from hypothesis prediction that
males’ executive functioning abilities would be better than that of females experiencing same
levels of anxiety. A total of 54 participants were involved in the study with 10 males and 44
females. An Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), revealed that there was no significant effect on
executive functioning due to the combined of anxiety and gender.

According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, anxiety is one of the
most common mental illness in the U.S. About 40 million adults in the U.S. of ages 18 and older
are affected by an anxiety disorder. People with anxiety disorders are six times more likely to be
admitted into a psychiatric hospital than those who don’t suffer from it. A lot of people get
anxious during their day or the course of their lives and actually never realize the drastic effects
anxiety has on their brain. For example, CalmClinic reported that long term untreated anxiety
can lead to a decrease in size of the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate,
hippocampus, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the orbitofrontal cortex, which are parts of the
brain necessary for proper executive functioning (decision making, problem solving etc.). Think
about the immense population affected daily by anxiety, causing them to make bad decisions,
decreasing their performance and even increasing exposure to more illnesses. Getting anxious
while or before taking an exam can be very detrimental to the examinee who might have enough
knowledge about the test in question, but the anxiety gets to mess up his working memory,
distracting him from the actual important task at hand which lead him to fail. There has been
debates on whether standardized tests such as the SAT and MCAT actually measure a person’s
ability to do well in college or medical school. However, the simple fact of taking a standardized
test, of which you know the level of its importance in your future life can be terrifying to some.
This increase in anxiety can lead them to focus less and perform more poorly than they were
actually prepared to.
Furthermore, this paper will review the effects anxiety has on students when facing such
situations where they have to make use of executive functioning. Executive functioning is the

management of cognitive processes, that is; memory, task flexibility, problem solving, as well as
planning and execution. We can see that anxiety having an effect on all these things can be really
detrimental in the life of a college student, being faced with peer pressure, exams, parental
pressure and a whole lot of things happening on college campuses. Based on some of the
literature below, it is known that there is a relationship between anxiety and working memory;
where the more the anxiety, the less functional is the working memory in regards to things such
as visuospatial memory, and retention. There is a research which shows the negative correlation
of anxiety and math test performance for example (Ramirez, G., Gunderson, E. A., Levine, S. C.,
& Beilock, S. L. (2013). However, all these experiments are mostly done in a general population
and focus is not placed on African American students. In this paper, the focus would be placed
on examining the effects of anxiety on executive functioning between male and female African
American college students. Very little studies have examined the effects of anxiety on executive
functioning on the African American population as the main focus of the study. This research is
meant to look into that, and also look at different factors which might be influential in the results,
if any relationship is found. All this in an effort to improving African American college students’
life style improving their decision making abilities, test taking and increasing school
performance in general. Finding that there is a correlation is a first step which can lead to further
studies looking at stereotype bias, and or finding ways to reduce the effects of anxiety and
improve performance.
Literature Review
An investigation on the effects of eating disorders on executive functioning was carried
out by Billingsley-Marshall, Basso, Lund, Hernandez, Johnson, Drevets, McKee, Yates (2013).
In their research, they examined how eating disorder through the effects of anxiety or depression

can cause an effect on executive functioning. The idea was that people who are diagnosed with
eating disorders would usually show signs of state anxiety (note that they are not talking about
the anxiety as a disorder). Their research was carried out on 160 female participants from an
inpatient facility, which catered to people with eating disorders. Their participants were clinically
diagnosed with anorexia nervosa-restricting type, anorexia nervosa-binge eating/purging type,
bulimia nervosa, and other eating disorders not specified.
Upon discharge from the inpatient facility, all participants involved in the study were
tested after nutritional stabilization; all having a BMI index within 19-25, also they had a blood
and liver test to make sure they were physically healthy. Those with a BMI of less than 19, or
someone who suffered a head injury or had an IQ of less than 80 were not allowed to participate
in the research as this would have caused false results. The measurements used for executive
functioning were The Digital Span subtest from Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale Third Edition
(WAIS-III) which measured working memory and attention span, The Digital Symbol-Coding
test from the WAIS-III meant to measure visual working memory, and information processing
speed, The Ruff Figural Fluency Test, which measured mental flexibility, and non-verbal
fluency, The Controlled Oral Word Association (COWA) test (Parts A and B), which was meant
to test shift in visual or spatial array of letters and numbers. They used the Wechsler Test of
Adult Reading to obtain a full-scale intelligence quotient. The Beck Depression Inventory and
the Trait Anxiety Inventory were used to measure depression and anxiety respectively. They also
accounted for age and education when obtaining their data. Results indicated that there was an
association between anxiety, The Ruff Figural test, and the COWA verbal fluency test. No
relationship was found with depression, and also age and education didn’t show any correlation
with executive functioning. Billingsley-Marshall et al. (2013) thus conclude that eating disorders

can lead to effects on mental flexibility and set shifting (executive functioning) in females, about
30 percent of their participants showed to be affected in one or both of the measures considered.
Unlike the research above, Mutchnick and Williams (2012) investigated the effect of
anxiety on memory. They worked on the hypothesis that extra-test anxiety would affect memory;
such that high anxiety levels which are expected before major surgery, would lead to lower
memory scores measured before the surgery. They investigated this relationship on presurgical
patients who had to undergo cardiopulmonary bypass (CBP), and back surgery. Since they
predicted that patients undergoing surgery should have some amount of anxiety about the
potential survival of the surgery, they thought that coupling this effect with test anxiety would
affect their memory scores. They had a total of 71 participants who were randomly selected from
the surgery schedule of the Methodist Hospital of Memphis, TN. Of those 71 participants, 47 of
them were scheduled for CBP while 24 were scheduled for back surgery. They randomized the
participants into two different groups for the purpose of their experiment, and participants were
briefed prior to them participating in the research.
After being admitted at the hospital, 1 to 2 days prior to their surgical procedures, the
participants were administered the State portion of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI).
This is because they were more focused on the participants’ anxiety at the moment of the test
taking procedure rather than their history of anxiety if any. After haven received the STAI, the
participants were then tested on their memory using the memory problem questionnaire and the
Memory Assessment Scale (MAS). The participants were also re-tested 6 weeks after their
surgery using alternate forms of the memory test, but only few of them were willing to
participate in the study after their surgery and one of the participants died during their surgical
procedure. From their results, participants’ memory performance were moderate and fell within

average range, test-taking anxiety was slightly below the scale’s median level, state anxiety
specific to surgery was slightly above the scale’s median level, which indicated that participants
were mostly anxious about the surgery and not the test. It was also found that age was negatively
correlated with anxiety; the younger the patients, the higher their anxiety levels. The researches
came to the final conclusion that there is no relationship between extra-test anxiety and memory
performance. Their hypothesis was rejected, as they could not find evidence, or any significant
influence of anxiety on memory performance.
Similarly, Trezise and Reeve (2014) investigated the association between emotions
(anxiety) and memory. However in their study, they focused mostly on working memory and
how it interacts with anxiety. Their research looked into a possible association between cognition
and emotion, and how these two vary with each other over time, and finally whether this
variation is associated with differences in algebraic problem solving. Trezise and Reeve
hypothesized that working memory (WM) is necessary for a stable emotional state, and that an
unstable emotional state would also affect working memory. Note that the emotional state they
focused on was worry, which is the mental part of anxiety, generally experienced when an
individual is suffering from an anxiety episode. They conducted their research on 126 fourteen
year olds school children which included 89 boys and 37 girls from a mixed school in an
Australian city. The school reported all the students to be in good mental state and not having
any learning difficulties and had normal or corrected to normal vision.
The students completed three algebraic task; algebraic problem solving test, algebraic
working memory, algebraic judgment/worry. They were also given two domain general tasks,
which were: the Go N-Go; an inhibition responses test, and the Corsi Block, which measured
visuospatial working memory. The tests were given in two sessions at different times and in

different orders throughout the day. The examiners measured all the participants working
memory immediately prior to them starting the problem solving tasks. The algebraic working
memory task was used to assess domain-relevant working memory, wherein the participants had
to appraise an algebraic statement, and remember alphanumeric symbols. The algebraic worry
was to assess students’ worry while making algebraic judgments. The algebraic problem solving
task was for students to solve linear algebra equation. Results indicated that there is a general
stability of working memory-worry relationship over time. Only a few children showed a change
in the working memory-worry relationship and the pattern changed to a lower working memory
over time. They also found out that the working memory-worry relationship is associated with
problem solving skills, where children with high WM/low worry scored the highest in the
problem solving task, and people with low WM/high worry scored the lowest.
Similarities can also be found between the above research by Trezise and Reeve (2014)
and that carried by Andreoletti, Veratti and Lachman (2006). At the same time, Andreoletti et al
focused their research on age groups and how they vary in their anxiety levels, and the
relationship between anxiety and performance with age being a factor. They conducted their
research on 195 adults with ages ranging between 21-83 years. From this number of people, 82%
were Caucasian, 11% African-American, 3% Asian-American, and 4% other. The participants
were then split into three age groups which were young adults, middle-aged, and older adults.
Participants involved in the research were free of any possible complication which could prevent
them from having a positive participation in the research, such as all participants had a minimum
of a high school diploma, and were free of any brain injury or disease.
Participants’ memory was tested using a Word list recall, which is a list of 30 categorized
nouns which were randomly spread-out such that no two words of the same category appear

adjacent to each other. Participants were given three minutes to study the words and then an
unlimited time to recall them. Recall data was scored using the Scoring Options for Recall Tests.
Recall of the first line of words was used as the measure for memory performance. Cognitive
specific anxiety levels was measured using the anxiety subscale which is 12 items of the
Personality in the Intellectual Contexts Inventory (PIC), which measured self-assessment of the
participants intellectual functioning. The PIC asks questions which required participants to
answer how they felt when faced with difficult questions testing their intelligence. State anxiety
was measured using the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), but only odd items were used
from the full inventory. The participants were allowed to choose the location where they wanted
to take the test, and 66% took the test at their house or at work, and 34% were tested in the
laboratory. Participants were given the test in the order of: PIC, forward and backward digit
span, digit symbol substitution, four word list recall trials, the STAI, vocabulary test, and then
the demographics and health questionnaire. Their results indicated that there was no association
between age group and anxiety, both cognitive-specific and state anxiety. The results also
showed that there is a negative correlation between cognitive-specific anxiety and word recall for
middle-aged and older adults but not for younger adults. They didn’t find any significant
association between state anxiety and memory performance.
Adding to the research by Trezise and Reeve (2014), Coy, O’Brien, Tabaczynski,
Northern and Carels (2011) also looked into the relationship between working memory and
anxiety, with the common idea that poor performance in a test is due to anxiety affecting the
working memory which prevents proper cognitive functions such as visual memory span. Coy et
al. however went further to explain that this limitation in the working memory is due to negative
off-task self-dialogue which is associated with evaluation anxiety. Their study investigated the

relationship between evaluation anxiety and working memory performance using an
experimental design. The research was performed with 88 participants from an introductory
psychology class, who had no history of drug or alcohol abuse, who didn’t report any
psychological illness, and were not medicated either on over the counter or prescription
medication. Participants were also instructed not to drink any beverage which contains caffeine 3
hours prior to their participation in the research. They were divided into two groups, one group
received anxiety-inducing instructions, while the other received conventional instructions. Both
groups were measured for negative self-dialog and off-task behaviors associated with evaluation
anxiety prior to and after the tests were administered using the Cognitive Interference
Questionnaire.
Both participants were given the Stroop Color-Word Test to measure central executive
functioning, the phonological loop was measured using the Digit span test, the visuospatial
sketchpad was measured using the Visual memory span test. Their heart rates were monitored to
confirm the induction of an anxious state, and the Revised Test Anxiety Scale (RTA) was used to
measure trait test anxiety. Results from this experiment showed that there is a relationship
between evaluation anxiety, self-reported anxiety scores, and cognitive interferences scores.
Participants who received the evaluation anxiety inducing instructions turned out to have higher
heart rates, had higher anxiety scores, and higher cognitive interference scores when compared to
those who didn’t get the induced anxiety instructions. Their hypothesis was supported that
evaluation anxiety affect certain areas of working memory such as the phonological loop due to
negative off-task and self-dialogue.
Unlike the researches above, Ganley and Vasilyeva (2013) looked into gender differences
and performance in mathematics. They investigated the effect of anxiety on working memory,

and the possibility that heightened levels of anxiety affects males and females differently, such
that high levels of anxiety in females makes them perform less than males in mathematics. They
used worry in this study as a component of anxiety. The experiment was conducted twice for
generalizability. In their first study, the researchers recruited 87 undergraduate students from a
university in the United States, of which they were 63 females and 24 males. The average age
was 19 years and 11 months, and about 66% of the participants had taken calculus in high school
(62% females, and 75% males), and all the participants had taken at least one or two college
math courses on average. Participants were given four measures during the session; one testing
worry as a component of state anxiety, two testing working memory; visuospatial memory was
measured using the spatial recall task, and verbal working memory measured using the word
recall task, listening recall in this case. Finally a mathematics test which was made up of 12
multiple choice questions obtained from standardized test, one from the 10th
grade, 12th
grade
and the SAT. The results showed that there is a relationship between visuospatial working
memory, worry and math performance and these results were gender specific. The results
confirmed their hypothesis that females perform much poorly in math exams than males, but the
researchers didn’t draw the conclusion that visuospatial working memory was a mediator causing
these differences. Results were the same for both studies, apart for the fact that in Study 2, verbal
memory didn’t show any relationship with worry like it did in Study 1.
In a like manner with the research by Ganley and Vasilyeva (2013), Ramirez, Gunderson,
Levine and Beilock (2013) looked into math anxiety and performances on a math test. They
hypothesized that children with a high working memory can be affected by math anxiety which
makes them vulnerable to poor performance in math. Related to the study above, which looked
into gender differences, this study looks into the startup of these gender differences. They are

concerned with the long term effects of math anxiety, as children faced with this issue turn to
choose a different path when they are given the choices to pick their own courses. Even though
they don’t go in depth, you can also see that this study agrees with the study above by Trezise et
al. (2014), which looked at working memory and worry. In their study, Trezise et al. (2014)
came to the findings that the higher the working memory and worry, the lower the performance
on accuracy in algebra problems, which is the same thing which applies to this study.
Ramirez et al (2013) had as participants, 162 children from public schools, of which 94
were first graders, 68 were second-graders with an average age of 7 years and 1 month. All
participants were tested individually by an experimenter and were tester in two sessions which
were spread over a period of 2 to 7 days. Children were tested on separate sessions for
achievement measures and math anxiety, so that one shouldn’t influence the other ones scores.
They took a total digit span test to measure their working memory, Woodcock-Johnson III
Applied Problems subtest which measured math performance under a national norm, Woodcock-
Johnson III Letter-Word Identification subtest, to measure reading performance, and finally a
Child Math Anxiety Questionnaire, to measure for math anxiety. Results from this research
indicated that there was an association between math anxiety and working memory. The higher
the working memory, the greater the anxiety which was also negatively related to math
achievement. Ramirez et al explained their results as; children with high working memory rely
on their working memory to do little additions and other processes. Now these processes would
be affected when they get math anxiety which pre occupies their working memory, making it
hard for them to process and thus the poor math achievement.
Different from the other studies, Moriya and Sugiura (2012) investigated the relationship
between social anxiety and visual working memory. Their reasoning was people with high social

anxiety are too sensitive to evaluation from others. Meaning that when they are faced in
situations such as giving a public speech, or meeting new people, they are keen to notice
judgmental gestures towards their person. The researchers assumed that visual working memory
is more associated with trait social anxiety rather than generalized anxiety which deals more with
thoughts. The research was carried out on a number of participants, testing their reaction to
visual stimuli. They used a change-detection task to measure for visual working memory. Fifty
participants were exposed to a memory array made up of 4,8,12 colored squares shown to them
for 100 millisecond and were asked to memorize the items which were shown to them. Their
memory was then tested 1 second later with a test array which was either similar to the memory
array or slightly different, requiring the participants to say if both arrays were similar or
different. The Brief of Negative Evaluation Scale was used to measure the degree of trait social
anxiety, the State Trait Anxiety Inventory was used to measure state anxiety. The experimental
results showed that, there is a positive correlation between trait social anxiety and memory
capacity, but there was no correlation with state anxiety. This supported their hypothesis that trait
social anxiety has a different effect on working memory, not affecting the memory as a whole,
but instead improving visual memory.
For the most part, the researches above looked at the interaction between memory
performance and anxiety with some few modifications and exceptions within individual studies.
Those researches covered the widespread of genders, ages and ethnicities, looking at this
variation across different basis. For example, Trezise and Reeve (2014) and Ganley and
Vasilyeva (2013), conducted their experiments to observe how anxiety affects the memory
performance of different genders. Other experiments looked at these interaction between
different ethnicities (Andreoletti et al., 2006). However, despite the minor variations (age,

gender, experimental setup and testing strategies), most of the researches above looked at the
impact of anxiety on working memory, or some aspect of memory such as visuospatial memory.
From their experiments, most came to the result that there is an interaction between anxiety and
working memory (and other specific memory being observed), in such a way that an increase in
anxiety caused a decrease in working memory. These studies however, focused much more on
working memory, mathematic test performance, and visuospatial memory with very little
emphasis on executive functioning as a whole. In some studies, trait anxiety was the focus; such
as the one conducted by Billingsley-Marshall (2013). Some of the experiments with diversity
such as the one conducted by Andreoletti et al. had very little sample of other races with
Caucasians being the largest population represented.
The current study is meant to look at the aspects not investigated by the researches above.
With the main focus being African American college students, both male and female, and how
they cope with anxiety. The study is meant to benefit the African American student population;
to look at their overall executive functioning, not just their test performances, but how they fend
with real life decisions and how much influence state anxiety has on these decisions. Therefore,
this study will look at the aspects which have not been investigated by previous researches
mentioned above, with the hypothesis that the higher the state anxiety, the lower the executive
functioning abilities of the individual; with females being affected more than the male students.
Method
Participants
There was a total of 54 participants, with 44 females and 10 males all college students.
Participants were selected from an undergraduate psychology class at Bowie State University
and varied between the ages of 18-50. Participants didn’t have any known history of anxiety or

any other mental disabilities. Participation was voluntary, as all participants were made aware
that they could drop out of the experiment at any time they felt like it. Participants who
completed the assessment were given credits for their participation, which would go towards
their grade for the class. No participant was excluded from the population pool due to any
factors. All participants were briefed on the purpose of the study prior to starting the assessment
and all signed a consent form. As stated in the consent form, participants were informed that all
scores obtained from this study remains confidential.
Procedure
Participants took the assessments in the psychology laboratory at Bowie State University,
and were informed that the assessment doesn’t test for a right or wrong answers. The
assessments were taken in one sitting, and it took about 45 minutes for the entire session. The
participants were given questionnaires to measure their anxiety level, and their executive
functioning.
For this study, State-trait anxiety inventory would be used to measure state anxiety levels
due to its consistency, ease of use, and the fact that it is less time consuming. The Behavior
Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF-A) would be used to measure executive
function. This assessment is also less time consuming and made up of a checklist requiring no
writing.
Materials
State-trait anxiety inventory
This is used to measure the person’s anxiety. It is made up of 40 questions, which are
divided into two sections each containing 20 questions. The two sections measure different forms
of anxiety, one being State anxiety, which is meant to measure a person’s anxiety at a particular

time. This is what we would focus on for this study. The state consists of statements like “I feel
calm”. The other section is Trait, which measures a person’s history of anxiety. The trait anxiety
section contains statements such as “I worry too much over something that really doesn’t
matter”. All items are rated on a 4-point scale ranging from “Not At All” to “Very Much So”. Its
internal consistency coefficient ranges between 0.86 - 0.95. From a study performed on high
school and college students with a test-retest interval of 104 days. The reliability coefficient for
the State-anxiety scale was low ranging between 0.16-0.62. The low scores shows us that the
scale measures anxiety at a specific time period.
Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function Adult form (BRIEF-A)
This is used to measure an individual’s executive function, and covers a wide range of
areas. The assessment is made up of a total of 75 items divided into two groups Metacognition
which tests for monitoring, organization of materials, planning/organization, working memory
and initiation. The second group is the Behavioral regulation, which tests for emotional control,
shift, and inhibition. Using the BRIEF-A is convenient since it measures different aspects of
executive functioning, and gives a wide scope of areas to observe. For example, if anxiety
doesn’t affect organization of materials, it might affect memory or initiation.
Statistical Analyses
This is a 3x2 between participant design; with three levels of anxiety (low, average and
high) and 2 levels of gender (male or female). The running scores for State Anxiety, ranging
from 20 through 80 were grouped in order to be placed into the categories listed above. An
Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to look at the interaction between the state anxiety and
gender (the two independent variables) and how they affect the overall score of executive
function (the dependent variable). Normal overall executive function scores ranged from 0

through 65, anything above that was reported as abnormal executive function. Because the
hypothesis for this study was to look at the joint interaction of State anxiety and gender on
executive performance, the data analyzed only involved the State portion of the State-Trait
Anxiety Inventory. Also, the results of the study were observed to see if there was any
significance between each independent variable’s individual effects on the dependent variable.
A Post Hoc was also done to determine what levels of the independent variable if any has an
effect on the dependent variable.
Results
An ANOVA was used to determine if there is a significant difference in executive
function abilities due to a variation in anxiety levels across genders. A .05 level of significance
was used. Based on the results obtained, there is no significant relationship on executive function
due to the joint effect of gender and anxiety, F (2, 48) = 0.238, p> 0.05. The average executive
function scores for males and females experiencing low levels of anxiety were 43 and 47
respectively. Next the average executive function scores for males and females experiencing
average levels of anxiety were 49 and 49 respectively. Finally the average executive function
scores for males and females experiencing high levels of anxiety were 52.5 and 53.2
respectively. Furthermore, no significance was found in executive functioning abilities due to the
individual effect of both independent variables.

Table 1.
Summary of anxiety-gender interaction with executive function.
Variable df F Sig.
Anxiety levels*Gender 2 .238 .789
*Significance at 0.05 level
Discussion
In an effort to shine the light on a population which has rarely been the focus in
experimental research, this research examined the African American college population at Bowie
State University, an HBCU; predominantly black college. The study involved 54 participants of
which there were 44 females and 10 males. The study was conducted in the school’s campus in a
psychology lab with the help of senior psychology students. Students were recruited from an
introductory psychology class, and there was no pre selection or recruiting criteria. Participants
answered questions from the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), measuring both state and
trait anxiety and also the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function adult version
(BRIEF-A) to determine their overall executive functioning level. The entire study took about 45
minutes, participants were debriefed and discharged. The main objective of this study was to
determine if anxiety affected African American college students’ executive functioning faculties,
in an effort to help them improve in certain aspects of their daily life such as decision making.
The hypothesis of the study was that high levels of anxiety will affect female students more so
than males, such that they will have poor executive function abilities (working memory,
emotional control etc.). The findings of this research were inconsistent with the results obtained
by Ganley and Vasilyeva (2013), wherein the researchers came to the results that females
perform poorly in math exams when compared to males. Even though the focus of the studies

were slightly different, the difference in gender and its effect on executive functioning was not
supported. The general hypothesis for this study was rejected. No significance was found
between the interaction of gender and state anxiety on executive functioning. This study was
much different from the researches above examining one aspect of executive function, so
comparability of results was very slim.
In the final analysis, no significant effect on executive functioning due to the joint
interaction of gender and state anxiety was found. Also, the individual effects of both
independent variables also yielded no significant effect on executive functioning. However,
when observing patterns and averages, it seems to be some movement in the directions predicted.
The mean values of executive functioning due to the different levels of state anxiety showed that
the higher the anxiety level, the higher the executive functioning score, even though the
maximum score was 52.8 which didn’t go above the abnormal executive functioning threshold of
65. Significance was also found in the post hoc which is possibly just an error often observed in
post hocs when null results are obtained (power approach paradox). The two levels which
happened to have less participants (high anxiety, and low anxiety), showed some significance
below the mean difference significance which was set at .05. Similarly, gender also showed
some slight difference in executive function means, a difference of about 1.6, with females
having the higher mean. A possible explanation to this insignificant variance could be poor self-
scoring, which includes some questions left unanswered. A lot of students get frustrated with
lengthy questionnaires and since there was no close monitoring, they knew unanswered
questions will not have them lose their participation points. Generally, despite the average high
levels of anxiety reported from the State anxiety scale, none of the mean scores for executive
function went over or even close to the abnormal executive functioning score of 65.

The current study has several strengths. Data collection tools were effective for the
targeted population and time constraint. The STAI and BRIEF-A were short response answers
which didn’t require participants to take a long time to complete or give up due to frustration.
Also, all participants took the assessments in the same environment, which cancelled any
extraneous variable associated with change in testing condition. Conditions in the lab were even,
so that any amount of anxiety experienced by the participants were not induced due to the lab
conditions. Although this study was structured to fit the condition of the students, doing so led to
some limitations of the study. Self-reporting was one of the troubles experienced, wherein not all
participants completed their questionnaires. The fact that the study was conducted by their peers
with whom they interact daily, led them to be biased in some responses to avoid judgment
despite of them being aware that their answers remain anonymous. Time constraint didn’t allow
room for recruiting of more participants. The number of participants obtained for this study was
not a good sample of the Bowie State University population. The extremely low level of male
participants might have led to type II errors.
In conclusion, the primary purpose of the study which was to help African American
college students identify the sources of some poor decisions making in order to address them was
not achieved in this study. Results showed no cause and effect relationship between state anxiety
and executive functioning. However, future research should take a look at anxiety as a whole
(both state and trait), and how it affects every level of executive functioning, in an effort to
improve testing and decision making abilities of African American college students. Gender
should also be included as a factor in the study to see if there is a difference between genders.

Appendix
Table of Contents.
1. State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI)
2. Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function Adult version (BRIEF-A)
3. Demographic questionnaire
4. Consent Form

CONSENT TO PARTICIPATE IN RESEARCH
You are asked to participate in a research study conducted by Awonti Etoo and Dr.
Ometha Lewis-Jack, from the department of psychology at Bowie State University. Your
participation in this study is entirely voluntary.
PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
The study is meant to examine if there is an interaction between gender (male or female)
and levels of anxiety, such that both their actions can predict executive function (working
memory, organizational skills, initiation, emotional control etc.) performance. The study focuses
mainly on the African American college population.
PROCEDURES
If you volunteer to participate in this study, you will be asked to do the following things:
Take a couple of psychological assessments, which would measure your state anxiety levels and
your executive function. The State anxiety portion of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory would be
given first which consists of 20 questions which should take you about 5-10 minutes to complete.
After taking this first assessment, you would then be given the Behavior Rating Inventory of
Executive Function Adult form (BRIEF-A), which contains 75 questions meant to measure
different aspects of your executive functioning. This section should take you about 10-20
minutes to complete.
POTENTIAL RISKS AND DISCOMFORTS
You are not exposed to any physical risks for taking part in this study; however, the
assessments may be time consuming and might interfere with any pressing activity you intended
to participate in. Emotional risks may be possible, as the lengthy and often repetitive questions
might be frustrating. Any other potential emotional risk would depend on each individual’s
sensitivity as assessments test for anxiety and executive functioning of individuals.
COMPENSATION FOR PARTICIPATION
Each participant would receive credit for participation in this research. The credit would
be at the discretion of your professor and this credit will be applied to your final grade in the
class. Taking the assessments more than once will not get you more credit than what you have
already received for your first participation.
CONFIDENTIALITY
Any information that is obtained in connection with this study and that can be identified
with you will remain confidential and will be disclosed only with your permission or as required
by law. Confidentiality will be maintained by means of a secured cabinet inside a room protected
by double locked doors.
PARTICIPATION AND WITHDRAWAL
Participation in this study is completely voluntary. If you volunteer to be in this study,
you may withdraw at any time without consequences of any kind. You may also refuse to answer
any questions you do not want to answer. There is no penalty if you withdraw from the study;
however, you will lose any benefits to which you were otherwise entitled.

IDENTIFICATION OF INVESTIGATORS
If you have any questions or concerns about this research, please contact Awonti Etoo
Principal Investigator at awontietoo@yahoo.com, Ometha Lewis-Jack Co-Investigator at (look
up in school directory).
I understand the procedures described above. My questions have been answered to my
satisfaction, and I agree to participate in this study. I have been given a copy of this form.
________________________________________
Printed Name of Subject
________________________________________ _________________________
Signature of Subject Date

References
Andreoletti, C., Veratti, B. W., & Lachman, M. E. (2006). Age differences in the relationship
between anxiety and recall. Aging & Mental Health, 10(3), 265-271.
doi:10.1080/13607860500409773
Anxiety and Depression Association of America. Facts and Statistics. Retrieved from
http://www.adaa.org/about-adaa/press-room/facts-statistics
Billingsley-Marshall, R., Basso, M., Lund, B., Hernandez, E., Johnson, C., Drevets, W., & ...
Yates, W. (2013). Executive function in eating disorders: the role of state anxiety. The
International Journal of Eating Disorders, 46(4), 316-321. doi:10.1002/eat.22086
CalmClinic. Anxiety and the Brain: An Introduction. Retrieved from
www.calmclinic.com/anxiety/anxiety-brain
Coy, B., O'Brien, W. H., Tabaczynski, T., Northern, J., & Carels, R. (2011). Associations
between evaluation anxiety, cognitive interference and performance on working memory
tasks. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 25(5), 823-832. doi:10.1002/acp.1765
Ganley, C. M., & Vasilyeva, M. (2014). The role of anxiety and working memory in gender
differences in mathematics. Journal of Educational Psychology, 106(1), 105-120.
doi:10.1037/a0034099
Moriya, J., & Sugiura, Y. (2012). High visual working memory capacity in trait social anxiety.
Plos ONE, 7(4), doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0034244
Mutchnick, M. G., & Williams, J. (2012). Anxiety and Memory Test Performance. Applied
Neuropsychology: Adult, 19(4), 241-248. doi:10.1080/09084282.2011.643965

Ramirez, G., Gunderson, E. A., Levine, S. C., & Beilock, S. L. (2013). Math Anxiety, Working
Memory, and Math Achievement in Early Elementary School. Journal of Cognition and
Development, 14(2), 187-202.
Trezise, K., Reeve, R. A., Kane, M. J., & Lemaire, P. (2014). Cognition-emotion interactions:
patterns of change and implications for math problem solving. Frontiers in Psychology,
51-15. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00840

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