Exploring mathematics anxiety among primary school students: Prevalence, mathematics performance and gender

Abstract

This quantitative, survey research investigated the prevalence of mathematics anxiety among 62 fourth and sixth grade primary level students (aged nine to 12 years). It also explored the correlation between mathematics performance and mathematics anxiety as well as if there was a significant, statistical difference between the mathematics anxiety of males and females. The data relating to mathematics anxiety and mathematics performance were collected using the modified abbreviated math anxiety scale (mAMAS) and a teacher-made mathematics test, respectively. This data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, the Mann Whitney U test and Spearman rank order correlation. The results indicated that the prevalence of mathematics anxiety was high among the sample of grade four students while the prevalence rate was considerably lower among the sample of sixth graders. Small, non-significant positive and negative correlations were recorded between mathematics performance and mathematics anxiety for grade four and six students, respectively. Gender differences relating to mathematics anxiety were also non-significant. In light of these mixed findings practical implications and potential directions for future research are discussed.