The Influence of Socioeconomic Status, Self-efficacy, and Anxiety on Mathematics Achievement in England, Greece, Hong Kong, the Netherlands, Turkey, and the USA

Abstract

International large-scale assessment studies provide comparative data countries both evaluate their education systems' performance and give information about the factors related students' achievement. The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is one of these international assessment studies conducted by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) every three year since 2000. The PISA target population consists of 15-year-old students and aims assess students' ability use their knowledge and skills in order meet real-life challenges (OECD, 2013b). Mathematics literacy was the primary focus of the 2012 assessments. The PISA defines mathematical literacy as an individual's capacity identify and understand the role that mathematics play in the world, make well-founded judgments, and use and engage with mathematics in ways that meet the needs of that individual's life as a constructive, concerned, and reflective citizen (OECD, 2009, p. 14).Research on factors related students' mathematics achievement and socioeconomic status (SES) has received broad attention. Various studies have examined socioeconomic status, finding it be one of the strongest predictors of academic achievement (Caldas & Bankston, 1997; Papanastasiou, 2000; Sirin, 2005) in not only international large-scale assessments (Chiu, Chow, & Mcbridge-Chang, 2007; Chiu & Xihua, 2008), but also school level assessments (Engin-Demir, 2009; Ma & Klinger, 2000).Researchers have also indicated that affective factors, such as math self-efficacy and math anxiety, play a crucial role in mathematics achievement. Social learning theorists define perceived self-efficacy as to believe in one's capabilities organize and execute the courses of action required manage prospective situations (Bandura, 1993, p. 2). When this theory is applied subject specific self-efficacy, such as math self-efficacy, children with high math self-efficacy would be likely demonstrate higher achievement in mathematics (Lent, Brown, & Gore, 1997). Furthermore, those who maintain a resilient sense of self-efficacy set challenging goals for themselves, make good use of analytic thinking skills, and have a firmer commitment reach these goals. Having a high level of self-efficacy also regulates and reduces both stress and anxiety (Bandura, 1993; Bandura & Locke, 2003). Math anxiety in the PISA is defined as students' feelings of helplessness and stress when dealing with mathematics (OECD, 2013a). The components of math anxiety were found be similar those of identified in test anxiety (Wigfield & Meece, 1988) with some researchers describing math anxiety as a subject specific test anxiety (Bandalos, Yates, & Thorndike-Christ, 1995; Hembree, 1990). The predictive power of mathematic self-efficacy and math anxiety on students' mathematics achievement has been well documented. Self-efficacy is positively associated with students' academic performance (Alci, Erden, & Baykal, 2010; Chiu & Xihua, 2008; i§ Guzel & Berberoglu, 2010; Lee & Stankov, 2013), whereas anxiety is negatively associated with students' academic performance (Cassady & Johnson, 2002; Hembree, 1990; Ho et. al, 2000; Ma, 1999; Seipp, 1991; McCarthy & Goffin, 2005 ). However, just as math anxiety's effect on mathematics achievement tends be relatively small, its debilitating effect neither direct nor significant (Meece, Wigfield, & Eccles, 1990).At the country level, math self-efficacy and math anxiety are associated with mathematics performance. Across OECD countries, a 28% and 14% variation in students' performance in mathematics can be explained by differences in students' reported levels of math self-efficacy and math anxiety, respectively (OECD, 2013a). At the cross country level however, the relationship between math self-efficacy, anxiety, and achievement is relatively complicated (Bodas & Ollendick, 2005; Liu, 2009). …