تحلیل تجربه زیسته افراد مبتلا به اضطراب عملکرد در محیط‌های تحصیلی

کیارش یوسفیان; آیدا رادمنش

Authors

Kiarash Yousefian Department of Health Psychology, Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman, Kerman, Iran Author
Aida Radmanesh Department of Health Psychology, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili, Ardabil, Iran.

Keywords:

Performance anxiety, test anxiety, lived experience, academic settings, thematic analysis, qualitative research

Abstract

This study aimed to analyze the lived experiences of individuals with performance anxiety in academic settings and to identify the cognitive, emotional, bodily, behavioral, and contextual components of this experience. This qualitative study was conducted using a phenomenological approach. The participants were 19 high school and university students living in Tehran who reported recurrent experiences of performance anxiety in academic situations such as examinations, classroom presentations, oral questioning, and practical evaluations. Purposeful sampling continued until theoretical saturation was achieved. Data were collected only through semi-structured interviews. Each interview lasted between 45 and 75 minutes and focused on the participants’ subjective experiences before, during, and after academic performance, bodily reactions, coping strategies, and the role of the educational environment. After obtaining informed consent, the interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed using NVivo software. Thematic analysis was conducted through familiarization with the data, initial coding, theme development, theme review, and theme naming. The analysis resulted in five main categories: “threat-based appraisal of performance situations,” “cognitive disruption and bodily dysregulation during evaluation,” “the cycle of avoidance, procrastination, and safety behaviors,” “the role of interpersonal and institutional context in intensifying anxiety,” and “efforts to reconstruct control and meaning.” Participants described academic performance anxiety not merely as fear of examinations but as a multilayered experience involving fear of judgment, attentional collapse, shame, post-performance rumination, and the fusion of self-worth with academic outcomes. Performance anxiety in academic settings is a cognitive, emotional, bodily, and social experience shaped by threat appraisal, family and educational pressures, fear of evaluation, and maladaptive coping strategies. The findings suggest that effective interventions should move beyond study-skills training and address beliefs about failure, emotion regulation, avoidance patterns, and psychologically safe assessment climates.

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