Math Performance and Academic Anxiety Forms, from Sociodemographic to Cognitive Aspects: a Meta-analysis on 906,311 Participants

Abstract

The relationship between anxiety and mathematics has often been investigated in the literature. Different forms of anxiety have been evaluated, with math anxiety (MA) and test anxiety (TA) consistently being associated with various aspects of mathematics. In this meta-analysis, we have evaluated the impact of these forms of anxiety, distinguishing between different types of mathematical tasks. In investigating this relationship, we have also included potential moderators, such as age, gender, working memory, type of task, and type of material. One hundred seventy-seven studies met the inclusion criteria, providing an overall sample of 906,311 participants. Results showed that both MA and TA had a significant impact on mathematics. Sociodemographic factors had modest moderating effects. Working memory (WM) also mediated the relationship between MA and TA with mathematics; however, this indirect effect was weak. Theoretical and educational implications, as well as future directions for research in this field, are discussed.

Relationships Between Mathematics Performance and Attitude to Mathematics: Influences of Gender, Test Anxiety, and Working Memory

“…Thus, the mathematics performance measures seemed to be relatively independent of working memory (though this did correlate with Arithmetic scaled score), test anxiety, and even of one another. This differs somewhat from the findings of some other studies, which found stronger influences on mathematical performance of test anxiety (Devine et al, 2012) of working memory (Skagerlund et al, 2019;Caviola et al, 2021) and especially of mathematics anxiety (Ma and Kishor, 1997;Dulaney et al, 2017;Skagerlund et al, 2019;Zhang et al, 2019;Barroso et al, 2021;Caviola et al, 2021). The findings here probably correspond most to those of Douglas and LeFevre (2018), who found relatively limited influence of working memory on other factors and their interrelationships.…”

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

“…Note that in contrast to a small number of studies [ 64 , 65 , 66 ], we did not find differences in the math anxiety–performance link with various aspects of math (calculation and fluency). More research is needed to comprehensively test these relations [ 67 ].…”

“…Recent evidence suggests that state (or state-like) math anxiety, e.g., [ 6 , 44 , 57 , 58 , 59 ] is more associated with math performance than trait math anxiety, e.g., [ 40 , 58 , 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 ], and the link between math anxiety and math performance is stronger in more complex math tests [ 64 , 65 , 66 ]. However, only a small number of studies used multiple measures of math performance [ 67 ].…”

Numerical Training Videos and Early Numerical Achievement: A Study on 3-Year-Old Preschoolers

“…For instance, videos could be a simple and effective way to develop and disseminate training interventions on a large scale, given the popularity and accessibility of video streaming platforms among preschoolers [ 67 , 68 , 94 ]. They could be used to deliver entertaining, targeted and effective interventions in deprived settings where numerical skills are undertrained, and thereby prevent the risk of children developing difficulties and negative attitudes to mathematics as they grow older [ 95 , 96 ].…”