Math anxiety (MA) is defined as an emotional reaction impairing the performance of people engaged in numbers and mathematics (Gunduz, 2015). Furthermore, MA is a “feeling of tension, apprehension, or fear that interferes with math performance” (Ashcraft, 2002). In particular, MA interferes with the individual’s performance on mathematics, manipulation of numbers, and problem-solving activity (Ingole & Pandya, 2015; Lai, Zhu, Chen, & Li, 2015). Students’ negative attitudes and perceptions, such as disliking math or feeling nervous and bored by it often lead to the experience of MA, which can foster poor mathematic achievements (Mullis, Martin, Foy, & Arora, 2012). Studies suggest that MA creates worries which influence the cognitive system responsible for the short-term storage and manipulation of information (Miyake & Shah, 1999). Indeed, MA might influence the math performance by overloading the working memory (Ashracft et al., 1998). Furthermore, studies found a positive correlation between MA and general anxiety with the Person’s coefficient about .35 (Wang et al., 2014), and an important link between math performance and self-efficacy (Bandura, 1997; Schunk & Pajares, 2009). The present research aimed to study the association between children’s MA, general anxiety, self-esteem, math attitudes, cognitive and executive functions and their relationship with math performance. The sample is composed of 134 students attending five elementary schools of the town of Trieste (Italy), and 79 students attending a public elementary school at the island of Krk (Croatia). The Italian research included two collective assessments and one one-hour individual assessment, whereas a Croatian research regarded a collective assessment of math attitudes and math performance. The results have shown that both MA and perceived math difficulty are negatively correlated with the math performance, whereas a math self-esteem and a self-perception of math ability are positively correlated with the scores on the math tests of calculation and reasoning. Furthermore, the performance on tasks of cognitive and executive functions was also positively correlated with the performance on math calculation, but not on math reasoning tasks. These findings were true just for the 5th graders, while the math performance of the 3rd graders did not correlate neither with the anxiety measures nor with the measures of cognitive and executive functions and math attitudes. Furthermore, boys showed to have more math gender stereotypes than girls, and with growing up the math attitudes tend to deteriorate. However, there were significant differences on both math performance and math attitudes in two different cultural settings of Italy and Croatia, such as the math attitudes being more positive in older students in Croatia. In summary, math anxiety and math attitudes showed to have an import impact on the math performance, but differences in two countries should be further investigated also on the larger sample size.

Math anxiety (MA) is defined as an emotional reaction impairing the performance of people engaged in numbers and mathematics (Gunduz, 2015). Furthermore, MA is a “feeling of tension, apprehension, or fear that interferes with math performance” (Ashcraft, 2002). In particular, MA interferes with the individual’s performance on mathematics, manipulation of numbers, and problem-solving activity (Ingole & Pandya, 2015; Lai, Zhu, Chen, & Li, 2015). Students’ negative attitudes and perceptions, such as disliking math or feeling nervous and bored by it often lead to the experience of MA, which can foster poor mathematic achievements (Mullis, Martin, Foy, & Arora, 2012). Studies suggest that MA creates worries which influence the cognitive system responsible for the short-term storage and manipulation of information (Miyake & Shah, 1999). Indeed, MA might influence the math performance by overloading the working memory (Ashracft et al., 1998). Furthermore, studies found a positive correlation between MA and general anxiety with the Person’s coefficient about .35 (Wang et al., 2014), and an important link between math performance and self-efficacy (Bandura, 1997; Schunk & Pajares, 2009). The present research aimed to study the association between children’s MA, general anxiety, self-esteem, math attitudes, cognitive and executive functions and their relationship with math performance. The sample is composed of 134 students attending five elementary schools of the town of Trieste (Italy), and 79 students attending a public elementary school at the island of Krk (Croatia). The Italian research included two collective assessments and one one-hour individual assessment, whereas a Croatian research regarded a collective assessment of math attitudes and math performance. The results have shown that both MA and perceived math difficulty are negatively correlated with the math performance, whereas a math self-esteem and a self-perception of math ability are positively correlated with the scores on the math tests of calculation and reasoning. Furthermore, the performance on tasks of cognitive and executive functions was also positively correlated with the performance on math calculation, but not on math reasoning tasks. These findings were true just for the 5th graders, while the math performance of the 3rd graders did not correlate neither with the anxiety measures nor with the measures of cognitive and executive functions and math attitudes. Furthermore, boys showed to have more math gender stereotypes than girls, and with growing up the math attitudes tend to deteriorate. However, there were significant differences on both math performance and math attitudes in two different cultural settings of Italy and Croatia, such as the math attitudes being more positive in older students in Croatia. In summary, math anxiety and math attitudes showed to have an import impact on the math performance, but differences in two countries should be further investigated also on the larger sample size.

The relationship between math anxiety, math attitudes and math performance A study on Italian and Croatian 3rd and 5th graders / Martinčić, Renata. - (2019 Mar 29).

The relationship between math anxiety, math attitudes and math performance A study on Italian and Croatian 3rd and 5th graders

MARTINČIĆ, RENATA
2019-03-29

Abstract

Math anxiety (MA) is defined as an emotional reaction impairing the performance of people engaged in numbers and mathematics (Gunduz, 2015). Furthermore, MA is a “feeling of tension, apprehension, or fear that interferes with math performance” (Ashcraft, 2002). In particular, MA interferes with the individual’s performance on mathematics, manipulation of numbers, and problem-solving activity (Ingole & Pandya, 2015; Lai, Zhu, Chen, & Li, 2015). Students’ negative attitudes and perceptions, such as disliking math or feeling nervous and bored by it often lead to the experience of MA, which can foster poor mathematic achievements (Mullis, Martin, Foy, & Arora, 2012). Studies suggest that MA creates worries which influence the cognitive system responsible for the short-term storage and manipulation of information (Miyake & Shah, 1999). Indeed, MA might influence the math performance by overloading the working memory (Ashracft et al., 1998). Furthermore, studies found a positive correlation between MA and general anxiety with the Person’s coefficient about .35 (Wang et al., 2014), and an important link between math performance and self-efficacy (Bandura, 1997; Schunk & Pajares, 2009). The present research aimed to study the association between children’s MA, general anxiety, self-esteem, math attitudes, cognitive and executive functions and their relationship with math performance. The sample is composed of 134 students attending five elementary schools of the town of Trieste (Italy), and 79 students attending a public elementary school at the island of Krk (Croatia). The Italian research included two collective assessments and one one-hour individual assessment, whereas a Croatian research regarded a collective assessment of math attitudes and math performance. The results have shown that both MA and perceived math difficulty are negatively correlated with the math performance, whereas a math self-esteem and a self-perception of math ability are positively correlated with the scores on the math tests of calculation and reasoning. Furthermore, the performance on tasks of cognitive and executive functions was also positively correlated with the performance on math calculation, but not on math reasoning tasks. These findings were true just for the 5th graders, while the math performance of the 3rd graders did not correlate neither with the anxiety measures nor with the measures of cognitive and executive functions and math attitudes. Furthermore, boys showed to have more math gender stereotypes than girls, and with growing up the math attitudes tend to deteriorate. However, there were significant differences on both math performance and math attitudes in two different cultural settings of Italy and Croatia, such as the math attitudes being more positive in older students in Croatia. In summary, math anxiety and math attitudes showed to have an import impact on the math performance, but differences in two countries should be further investigated also on the larger sample size.
29-mar-2019
GALMONTE, ALESSANDRA
31
2017/2018
Settore M-PSI/04 - Psicologia dello Sviluppo e Psicologia dell'Educazione
Università degli Studi di Trieste
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11368/2991066
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