Abstract
Math anxiety has been defined as unpleasant feelings of tension and anxiety that hinder the ability to deal with numbers and math in a variety of situations. Although many studies have looked at situational and demographic factors associated with math anxiety, little research has looked at the self-reported experiences with math that are associated with math anxiety. The present study used a mixed-methods design and surveyed 131 undergraduate students about their experiences with math through elementary school, junior high, and high school, while also assessing math anxiety, general anxiety, and test anxiety. Some reported experiences (e.g., support in high school, giving students plenty of examples) were significantly related to the level of math anxiety, even after controlling for general and test anxiety, but many other factors originally thought to be related to math anxiety did not demonstrate a relation in this study. Overall, this study addresses a gap in the literature and provides some suggestive specifics of the kinds of past experiences that are related to math anxiety and those that are not.
Highlights
Math skills are essential for individuals’ participation in society and success in everyday life (Maloney et al, 2010)
It was hypothesized that individuals who had lower math marks would have higher levels of Math anxiety (MA) compared to those with higher math marks. This hypothesis was fully supported, as our results indicate that math marks were negatively associated with MA during all three time periods
This study developed a new measure of math experiences, and we examined internal reliability of inter-rater reliability, this measure can be improved through further psychometric testing
Summary
Math skills are essential for individuals’ participation in society and success in everyday life (Maloney et al, 2010). Math anxiety (MA) is a negative response experienced by some individuals when they are faced with numbers, math, and calculations (Ashcraft and Moore, 2009). Factors shown to be associated with MA can be grouped into three broad categories: situational, dispositional, and environmental (Byrd, 1982; Baloglu and Koçak, 2006). Situational factors are those directly associated with math (Fitzgerald, 1997) including the construct itself (in this case math) as well as variables surrounding the construct (Byrd, 1982). Environmental factors consist of an individual’s previous experiences with and perceptions of math (Baloglu and Koçak, 2006)
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