Math Anxiety In Elementary And Secondary School Students

Studies have documented the negative effects of mathematics anxiety on mathematics performance and achievement. Students’ mathematics anxiety may impact on their ability to learn Mathematics more effectively. According to Liebert and Morris (1967), they had distinguished two components of test anxiety. Worry is the cognitive component of anxiety, consisting of self-deprecatory thoughts about one’s performance. Emotionality is the affective component of anxiety, including feelings of nervousness, tension, and unpleasant physiological reactions to testing situations.

            The purpose of this study is to examine the age and gender difference in mathematics anxiety. In regards to gender differences, there were no differences in the structure of boys’ and girls’ responses to the Math Anxiety Questionnaires which indicates that they were answering the items in similar ways. Boys and girls also did not differ in their reports of math worry, which indicates that they were equally concerned about doing well in mathematics. However girl reported experiencing more negative affective reactions to mathematics than boys. These implicate that that as math courses get harder, girls will be more likely to stop taking math when they have that option. The suggestion by researchers is that intervention programs to alleviate the affective and cognitive aspects of math anxiety must deal with both affective and cognitive aspects. These programs should be implemented during the elementary school years, before children’s anxiety about math becomes too strongly established.