Does repetitive negative thinking mediate the relationship between perfectionistic concerns and cognitive test anxiety?

Test anxiety, particularly cognitive test anxiety, is negatively associated with academic performance. Previous research has demonstrated that higher levels of perfectionistic concerns predict higher levels of cognitive test anxiety but has not explored potential mediators of this relationship. This study investigated whether repetitive negative thinking mediated the relationship between perfectionistic concerns and cognitive test anxiety in a non-clinical, academic sample.Participants were Australian university students (Mediation analysis yielded a total model accounting for 43.5% of variance in cognitive TA. Perfectionistic concerns significantly accounted for 10.6% of variance direction (Findings demonstrate that RNT significantly mediates the relationship between perfectionistic concerns and cognitive test anxiety in this sample. Importantly, these findings may direct future studies towards investigating the effectiveness of targeting repetitive negative thinking in interventions to mitigate levels of cognitive test anxiety.