comparing the metacognitive beliefs and pathological worry in the students with test anxiety disorder syndrome and normal students

Metacognition is a multidimensional concept entailing knowledge, processes and the strategies which assess, monitor, or control cognition. This study sets out to draw a comparison between metacognitive beliefs and pathological worry in the students with test anxiety syndrome and normal students. In this causal-comparative study, 670 individuals were selected from the senior high school students in Tabriz by means of multistep cluster random sampling method and responded to Spellberger Test Anxiety Scale. Then, 100 students with test anxiety disorder were selected and matched with 100 normal students. Moreover, they responded not only to demographic questions but also to Wells & Cartwright Scale of Metacognitive Beliefs, and Pennsylvania Worry Scale. The data were analyzed by means of multivariate variance analysis. The results suggest that there is a significant difference between the scores of students with test anxiety disorder and normal students as to the components of metacognitive beliefs and pathological worry. Metacognitive beliefs serve as effective factors in students' mental health, and one could make an improvement in their mental health by altering the metacognitions which develop negative and incompatible attitudes and general negative beliefs.