How Female and Male Teachers' Mathematics Anxiety Relates to Their Interpersonal Behavior in Child-Teacher-Dyads

• In Event: Affect and Motivation in Mathematics Education

Abstract

We investigated how teachers’ mathematics anxiety transfers into agency and communion of their interpersonal behavior in child-teacher dyads. Forty-seven elementary mathematics teachers described their behavior towards each of their 1,008 students on a Circumplex measure. Teachers additionally reported their mathematics anxiety and general teaching anxiety. Results indicated that mathematics anxiety and general teaching anxiety were associated with high agentic and low communal interpersonal teacher behavior. Gender-specific analyses revealed differences in the association of mathematics anxiety and agency: Only women coped with their mathematics anxiety with high agency whereas men’s mathematics anxiety was associated with low agency. No gender differences appeared for general teaching anxiety, suggesting that the findings are mathematics-specific. We discuss our results with regard to mathematics-related gender stereotypes.

Authors

• Madita Frühauf, Freie Universität Berlin

• Alice Eagly, Northwestern University

• Bettina Hannover, Freie Universität Berlin