Posttraumatic stress disorder and standardized test-taking ability.

Given the widespread use and high-stakes nature of educational standardized assessments, understanding factors that affect test-taking ability in young adults is vital. Although scholarly attention has often focused on demographic factors (e.g., gender and race), sufficiently prevalent acquired characteristics may also help explain widespread individual differences on standardized tests. In particular, this article focuses on the role that posttraumatic stress symptoms (PSS) potentially play in standardized academic assessments. Using a military sample measured before and after exposure to war-zone stressors, the authors sought to explain test-taking ability differences with respect to symptoms of PTSD on two cognitive tasks that closely match standardized test constructs. The primary method for this analysis is based on an item response theory with covariates approach. Findings suggest that the effect for PSS is significant on both tasks, particularly for those who experience the highest levels of PSS following war-zone exposure. Findings provide potentially valuable information regarding the nature of the relationship between PSS and verbal and logical reasoning test performance.

鉴于教育标准化评估的广泛应用及其高利害性，了解影响年轻人应试能力的因素至关重要。尽管学术关注往往集中在人口统计学因素（例如性别和种族）上，但足够普遍的后天特征可能也有助于解释标准化测试中广泛存在的个体差异。特别是，本文重点关注创伤后应激症状（PSS）在标准化学业评估中可能起到的作用。作者使用一个在接触战区应激源前后进行测量的军人样本，试图解释在与标准化测试结构紧密匹配的两项认知任务中，创伤后应激障碍症状对考试能力差异的影响。这种分析的主要方法基于一种带有协变量的项目反应理论。研究结果表明，PSS对两项任务的影响都很显著，特别是对于那些在战区暴露后经历最高水平PSS的人。这些发现为PSS与言语和逻辑推理测试成绩之间关系的性质提供了潜在的有价值信息。