Math Anxiety and Math Ability in Early Primary School Years (original) (raw)
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Math anxiety and its relationship with basic arithmetic skills among primary school children
British Journal of Educational Psychology, 2017
Background Children have been found to report and demonstrate math anxiety as early as the first grade. However, previous results concerning the relationship between math anxiety and performance are contradictory, with some studies establishing a correlation between them while others do not. These contradictory results might be related to varying operationalizations of math anxiety. Aims In this study, we aimed to examine the prevalence of math anxiety and its relationship with basic arithmetic skills in primary school children, with explicit focus on two aspects of math anxiety: anxiety about failure in mathematics and anxiety in math-related situations. Sample The participants comprised 1,327 children at grades 2 to 5. Methods Math anxiety was assessed using six items, and basic arithmetic skills were assessed using three assessment tasks. Results Around one-third of the participants reported anxiety about being unable to do math, one-fifth about having to answer teachers' questions and one-tenth about having to do math. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated that anxiety about math-related situations and about failure in mathematics are separable aspects of math anxiety. Structural equation modeling suggested that anxiety about math-related situations was more strongly associated with 3 arithmetic fluency than anxiety about failure. Anxiety about math-related situations was most common among second graders and least common among fifth graders. Conclusions Since math anxiety, particularly about math-related situations, was related to arithmetic fluency even as early as the second grade, children's negative feelings and math anxiety should be identified and addressed from the early primary school years.
Learning and Individual Differences, 2019
The aim of this study is to examine the development of two separable aspects of math anxiety, anxiety about math-related situations and anxiety about failure in math, and their cross-lagged relationship with arithmetic achievement. The mean level of anxiety about math-related situations decreased among second, third, and fourth graders, and the level of anxiety about failure in math declined among third, fourth, and fifth graders. The rankorder of individuals was more stable in arithmetic achievement than in either aspect of math anxiety. Arithmetic achievement predicted later anxiety about failure in math, but neither aspect of math anxiety predicted later achievement. The results underline the importance of paying attention to math anxiety because anxiety about math-related situations seems to be as stable in primary school as it is in secondary school students. It is important to provide sufficient educational support and take into account affective factors related to learning from the beginning of schooling.
Contemporary Educational Psychology, 2013
This study explored mathematics anxiety in a longitudinal sample of 113 children followed from second to third grade. We examined how mathematics anxiety related to different types of mathematical performance concurrently and longitudinally and whether the relations between mathematics anxiety and mathematical performance differed as a function of working memory. Concurrent analyses indicated that mathematics anxiety represents a unique source of individual differences in children's calculation skills and mathematical applications, but not in children's geometric reasoning. Furthermore, we found that higher levels of mathematics anxiety in second grade predicted lower gains in children's mathematical applications between second and third grade, but only for children with higher levels of working memory. Overall, our results indicate that mathematics anxiety is an important construct to consider when examining sources of individual differences in young children's mathematical performance. Furthermore, our findings suggest that mathematics anxiety may affect how some children use working memory resources to learn mathematical applications.
Math Anxiety in Students With and Without Math Learning Difficulties
IEJEE, 2019
The aim of this study was to determine the dimensions of the relationship between math anxiety and mathematics achievement of the third grade students with and without mathematics learning difficulties. Data were collected from 288 elementary school students using math anxiety scale and math achievement test tools. The mathematics achievement test scores reveal that the students were classified into four groups: math learning difficulties (0-10%), low achievers (11-25%), normal achievers (26-95%), and high achievers (96-100%). The findings reveal that there was a strong correlation (r=-.597) between the math anxiety and math achievement of the participants, while there was no significant difference between the mean scores of the mathematics anxiety of the lower two groups as it was between the two upper groups. This indicates that the math anxiety level of the students with math learning difficulties does not differ from the low achievers. However, the results depict a significant difference between the mean scores of the math anxiety of the low achievers and the normal achievers.
The Development and Validation of a Revised Version of the Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale
Educational and Psychological Measurement, 1982
Although there is an extensive amount of research that examines the relation between math anxiety and math performance in adolescents and adults, little work has focused on this relation in young children. Recently more attention has been paid to the early development of math anxiety, and new measures have been created for use with this age group. In the present study, we report on the development and validation of a revised version of the Math Anxiety Scale for Young Children (MASYC; Harari et al., 2013). We conducted cognitive interviews with the 12 MASYC items with nine children and then administered the MASYC and five newly-developed items to 296 first-, second-and third-grade children. Results from cognitive interviews show that three of the items from the original scale were being systematically misinterpreted by young children. We present a revised measure (the MASYC-R) consisting of 13 items (eight original, five newly-developed) that shows strong evidence for reliability and validity. Results also showed that a small, but meaningful, proportion of children at this age show signs of high math anxiety. Validity of the MASYC-R was supported through correlations with a number of other factors, including general anxiety, math performance, and math attitudes. In addition, results suggest that a substantial proportion of the variance in math anxiety can be explained from these other variables together. The findings suggest that the MASYC-R is appropriate for use with young children and can help researchers to answer important questions about the nature and development of math anxiety at this age.
Math anxiety in elementary and secondary school students
Journal of Educational Psychology, 1988
We assessed math anxiety in 6th-through 12th-grade children (N = 564) as part of a comprehensive longitudinal investigation of children's beliefs, attitudes, and values concerning mathematics. Confirmatory factor analyses provided evidence for two components of math anxiety, a negative affective reactions component and a cognitive component. The affective component of math anxiety related more strongly and negatively than did the worry component to children's ability perceptions, performance perceptions, and math performance. The worry component related more strongly and positively than did the affective component to the importance that children attach to math and their reported actual effort in math. Girls reported stronger negative affective reactions to math than did boys. Ninth-grade students reported experiencing the most worry about math and sixth graders the least.
Demographic Predictors of Math Anxiety in Elementary School Children
2021
Due to the increasing interest of math anxiety in elementary level children, the present study explored math anxiety contextual factors through Bandura's (1999) Social Cognitive perspective. Using the Children's Anxiety in Math Scale, researchers gathered data from 40 primary-level children to explore four demographic predictors-grade-level, special needs identification, gender identity, and socioeconomic status-of mathematics anxiety through a hierarchical regression model. Findings indicated demographic variables accounted for over onethird of the variance in math anxiety scores at 38.2% (grade level: 12.3%, SNI: 8.4%, gender identity: 13.2%, SES: 4.1%). With the exception of socioeconomic status, all predictors were significant. These findings provide implications and recommendations for educators, parents, and future researchers.