Abstract
The development of math skills is crucial for adequate functioning in academic and professional settings as well as in daily life. A factor that has been shown to negatively influence performance and acquisition of math skills is math anxiety. With the high prevalence of math anxiety in society and the long lasting effects on math performance, it is important to study the relation between math anxiety and math performance in young children. Since math anxiety is often more pronounced in women than in men, it is essential to take the effect of gender into account. While the effect of gender on the relation between math anxiety and math performance has been studied in adults and adolescents, less research has focused on children, especially children at young ages. To fill this gap, the current study examined how the relation between math anxiety and math performance differed between boys and girls in early elementary school years. Math anxiety and math performance was assessed in 124 second- and fourth-grade children (67 girls and 57 boys). Although boys and girls showed more or less equal levels of math anxiety and performed similarly at the arithmetic task, correlation analyses showed that only in girls, math anxiety significantly correlated with math performance. Analyses investigating if math anxiety moderated the effect of gender and grade on math performance revealed significant differences between boys and girls. Higher levels of math anxiety only significantly and negatively moderated math performance in girls, with the greatest effect observed in 2nd grade girls. These findings highlight the importance of taking gender differences into account when studying the effect of math anxiety. The results showed that math anxiety is already negatively linked to math performance in girls as early as second grade. The present findings emphasize the importance of the early identification and remediation of math anxiety in girls to prevent long lasting effects. Possible causes for the gender related differences will be discussed.
Highlights
Developing and having adequate numerical and mathematical skills is a prerequisite to function effectively in daily life and influences participation and success in many careers especially those in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) (Beilock and Maloney, 2015; Ferguson et al, 2015). Ashcraft and Kirk (2001) reported that about 20% of the population shows a more or less severe negative affective reaction in situations that involve numerical and mathematical activities which is referred to as math anxiety (MA)
In the youngest girls this effect was still significant after controlling for test anxiety for the Test Arithmetic (TTA), an arithmetic test that had to be performed under time pressure
Our results highlight the importance of taking gender differences into account when studying the effect of math anxiety
Summary
Developing and having adequate numerical and mathematical skills is a prerequisite to function effectively in daily life and influences participation and success in many careers especially those in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) (Beilock and Maloney, 2015; Ferguson et al, 2015). Ashcraft and Kirk (2001) reported that about 20% of the population shows a more or less severe negative affective reaction in situations that involve numerical and mathematical activities which is referred to as math anxiety (MA). Around 20% of the children with poor math scores had high math anxiety It can be devastating if math performance is hindered by affective rather than cognitive factors (Ashcraft and Moore, 2009; ElseQuest et al, 2010), resulting in a failure to perform at one’s best level. It is important to recognize math anxiety in younger children to prevent that they develop an avoidance of mathematics which might have lifelong effects (Aarnos and Perkkilä, 2012). This might be in particular important for girls considering the fact that women are underrepresented in STEM careers (Else-Quest et al, 2010; Wang and Degol, 2017). To evaluate if math anxiety differentially impacted math performance in boys and girls we studied this effect in children in early elementary school years in second and fourth grade
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