Genetic factors underlie the association between anxiety, attitudes and performance in mathematics

Abstract

Students struggling with mathematics anxiety (MA) tend to show lower levels of mathematics self-efficacy and interest as well as lower performance. The current study addresses: (1) how MA relates to different aspects of mathematics attitudes (self-efficacy and interest), ability (understanding numbers, problem-solving ability, and approximate number sense) and achievement (exam scores); (2) to what extent these observed relations are explained by overlapping genetic and environmental factors; and (3) the role of general anxiety in accounting for these associations. The sample comprised 3410 twin pairs aged 16-21 years, from the Twins Early Development Study. Negative associations of comparable strength emerged between MA and the two measures of mathematics attitudes, phenotypically (~−0.45) and genetically (~−0.70). Moderate negative phenotypic (~−0.35) and strong genetic (~−0.70) associations were observed between MA and measures of mathematics performance. The only exception was approximate number sense whose phenotypic (−0.10) and genetic (−0.31) relation with MA was weaker. Multivariate quantitative genetic analyses indicated that all mathematics-related measures combined accounted for~75% of the genetic variance in MA and~20% of its environmental variance. Genetic effects were largely shared across all measures of mathematics anxiety, attitudes, abilities and achievement, with the exception of approximate number sense. This genetic overlap was not accounted for by general anxiety. These results have important implications for future genetic research concerned with identifying the genetic underpinnings of individual variation in mathematics-related traits, as well as for developmental research into how children select and modify their mathematics-related experiences partly based on their genetic predispositions.

Math Anxiety Is Related to Math Difficulties and Composed of Emotion Regulation and Anxiety Predisposition: A Network Analysis Study

“…For example, math-anxious individuals demonstrated general-anxiety-related neuro-physiological responses [ 44 ] and maladaptive threat-related attentional bias [ 45 , 46 ]. Moreover, genetic studies have found that general anxiety explained 9% of the total variance in math anxiety [ 34 , 47 ], and general and math anxiety shared about 20% of their genetic variance [ 48 ]. In a similar vein, a longitudinal path model showed general anxiety disorder was a significant predictor of math performance [ 44 ].…”

Students’ Motivation and Affection Profiles and Their Relation to Mathematics Achievement, Persistence, and Behaviors

“…This is consistent with previous variable-centered studies that suggested an inverse relationship between math anxiety and motivational variables ( Meece et al, 1990 ; Ahmed et al, 2012 ). A recent study employing ACE model on 3,410 twins showed negative correlations between math anxiety and two math attitude variables, interest and self-efficacy, both phenotypically (−0.45) and genetically (−0.7) ( Malanchini et al, 2020 ). Interestingly, with a person-centered approach, our study found an exceptional subgroup, class 1, of which the students with medium math interest, instrumental motivational to learn, and math self-concept had high math anxiety and low rather than medium perceived control in math.…”

“…They found that math anxiety impedes advanced memory-based strategy use and impairs math achievement by diminishing the use of advanced memory-based strategies. Further, a recent twin study confirmed a negative correlation between math anxiety and performance, which is attributed to both environmental and genetic factors quantitatively ( Malanchini et al, 2020 ).…”

The Degree of Influence of Genetic Factors on the Understanding of Mathematics: Analysis of the Students 'View

“…Проведенные многомерные количественные генетические анализы показали, что примерно 75 % дисперсии математической тревожности могут быть объяснены генетическими факторами. Был сделан вывод о том, что так как математическая тревожность напрямую связана с успехами в математике [11], а генетические характеристики влияют на математическую тревожность, то прослеживается связь между генетикой и способностями к математике [12].…”