This study of Japanese families postulated that positive and negative parental attitudes may affect the degree of test anxiety experienced by children in the families. The study used translations of the Reactions to Tests (RTT) inventory and parental attitude tests to identify relationships between child rearing practices and the child's performance in threatening situations such as academic tests. Subjects were 237 male and 239 female undergraduates at Japanese universities. The RTT inventory, the Mother Acts Scale, the Father Acts Scale, and the Mother-Father-Peer Inventory were administered to each subject. Findings indicated that female subjects rated higher scores on parents' child rearing behaviors, and that parental restriction, blame, inconsistency, overprotection and rejection raise the anxiety level of children in testing situations. Praise, on the other hand, correlated with the tension and worry components of the RTT, indicating that praise of a child's behavior enhances anxiety towards testing and the possibility of failure. The results with respect to praise did not support the hypothesis that praise reduces test anxiety, while the results for negative parental attitudes were as predicted. Five tables of results, four references, and three appendixes listing sample test responses are included. (SKC)