The relation between attitudes towards mathematics and dropout from university mathematics—the mediating role of satisfaction and achievement

Abstract

The transition from school to university mathematics is a challenging process for many students, which is reflected in high dropout rates during the first year at university. Using mediation analysis, we want to shed light on the role of students’ attitudes towards mathematics—especially their interest in mathematics and their mathematical self-concept—for early dropout and investigate the underlying mechanisms for the relations between attitudes and dropout. Informed by frameworks of person-environment-fit and results from educational psychology, we consider satisfaction with one’s studies and achievement as potential mediators, influencing the relations between attitudes and early dropout. Our results within a sample of 274 first-year students, enrolled in a pure mathematics or a teacher education program at a German university, show that interest in university mathematics and mathematical self-concept are associated with less risk to drop out. In the case of interest, this relation is mediated by students’ satisfaction, and in the case of self-concept, this relation is mediated by satisfaction and achievement. Based on these results, we discuss how to support students during the transition from school to university mathematics in order to prevent early dropout.

Attitudes toward mathematics/statistics, anxiety, self-efficacy and academic performance: an artificial neural network

“…The relations, as it is stated in the introduction, are then accepted by the results obtained as evidenced in studies such as those conducted by Xiao and Sun (2021) . Geisler et al (2023) also highlight the existence of relationships between attitudes toward mathematics and the academic achievement variable. Orbach et al (2019) also find inverse correlations between components of the math anxiety and academic performance variables.…”

“… Czocher et al (2020) proposed the training of self-efficacy and competence through mathematical modeling in university students, indicating the importance of an intervention to improve the construction of such self-efficacy. Along the same lines, another recent study highlights the importance of mathematics attitudes such as academic interest and self-concept and aspects such as degree of satisfaction and perceived achievement given their influence on the dropout rate during the first university years ( Geisler et al, 2023 ). Czocher et al (2020) found in first-year undergraduate students at a German university in some mathematics major (mathematics program and teacher education program) aged 17–33 years, using a gender-balanced sample, that attitudes toward mathematics such as mathematical interest and mathematical self-concept correlated inversely with the risk of academic dropout; to be specific, satisfaction was a mediating variable for both academic interest and academic self-concept.…”

“…When we talk about attitudes toward mathematics we are somehow referring to the affective component of the construct ( Geisler et al, 2023 ) that Emmioğlu and Çapa-Aydın (2012 , p. 95) define as a “multidimensional construct that stands for students’ learned predispositions to respond positively or negatively with regard to statistics.” It is necessary not to neglect this non-cognitive component so relevant to the teaching/learning process in Mathematics and Statistics ( García-Suárez et al, 2023 ; Spencer et al, 2023 ). The affective dimension of competencies such as emotional competence is part of the curriculum to be addressed in the teaching/learning processes of mathematics.…”

“…In this study, the importance of this type of results is raised so that teachers can also attend to motivational diversity with individualized instruction. In the same vein, Geisler et al (2023) indicate that there is some evidence of relationships between the individual interest factor of the construct of attitudes toward mathematics with academic performance, but that more research is needed as the results are not entirely conclusive as there are studies (e.g., Rach and Heinze, 2017 ) even contradictory that find no relationships between the interest factor and academic performance. Among previously studied theoretical models, those proposed by Paechter et al (2017) , in which other variables such as procrastination are included, stand out.…”

Advances in the Contributions of Mathematics in the Field of Education and Psychology

“…When we talk about attitudes toward mathematics we are somehow referring to the affective component of the construct (Geisler et al, 2023) that Emmioğlu and Çapa-Aydın (2012, p. 95) define as a "multidimensional construct that stands for students' learned predispositions to respond positively or negatively with regard to statistics. " It is necessary not to neglect this non-cognitive component so relevant to the teaching/learning process in Mathematics and Statistics (García-Suárez et al, 2023;Spencer et al, 2023).…”