Spatial Anxiety And Spatial Performance In Univeristy Students In Russia And China

Abstract

Previous studies showed inconsistent results with regards to the levels of spatial anxiety and its associations with spatial performance in males and females. In the current study, we recruited two samples from China and Russia to assess males and females on three different spatial dimensions (spatial perception, mental rotation, and spatial visualization). Eight spatial ability tests were used to measure spatial abilities the in three dimensions. The results showed that males outperformed females on all three spatial dimensions. Some differences in performance and anxiety levels were also observed across the two countries samples and are discussed in light of potential differences in selection criteria and aspects of culture. Compared to males, females had higher spatial anxiety, overall. Similar magnitudes of correlations between spatial anxiety and spatial dimesions were observed in the Russian and Chinese samples. For further analysis, the participants were divided into two groups: low spatial anxiety and high spatial anxiety according to the median of spatial anxiety for each country. Results showed significant differences between low and high spatial anxiety groups in performance on the three spatial tasks and the composite spatial ability measure. In addition, females had more anxiety on spatial perception and visualization. However, for males and females the correlations between anxiety and spatial visualization, and anxiety and spatial perception were of similar magnitudes.