Math Anxiety and Cheating in Classrooms Serving Gifted and Nonidentified Students: Expectancy and Value Mediations

• In Event: Stress and Anxiety of Gifted Students

Abstract

Academically gifted students tend to achieve higher than their non-identified peers in STEM subjects, but it is unclear how they differ in anxiety and academic integrity. This study examined the roles of math expectancy and value in gifted and non-identified students’ math anxiety and cheating behavior. Results from 925 students (Mage = 11.08, SDage = .92) in Grade 4 to 6 classrooms where gifted students were educated alongside their non-identified peers showed that gifted students reported lower math anxiety but not cheating than non-identified peers. Math expectancy partially accounted for the difference in math anxiety between gifted and non-identified students. Findings call attention to disparate math learning experiences between gifted and non-identified students taught in the same classroom.

Authors

• Alyssa Tonissen, The Ohio State University

• Trent N Cash, Carnegie Mellon University

• Tzu-Jung Lin, The Ohio State University

• Eric M. Anderman, The Ohio State University