The Trajectory of Maths Anxiety in the Early Years

• In Event: Poster Session 11
  In Poster Session: PS 11 Topic - Cognitive Processes

Abstract

Objectives: Maths anxiety (MA) is related to maths achievement in children and adults, with some studies finding evidence of maths anxiety from age 6 years (Cargnelutti et al., 2017; Ramirez et al., 2013). This project examined maths anxiety prevalence in two cohorts of children who began primary school from age 4 years. It investigated the relationships between early MA and children’s numeracy and problem-solving skills when children began school (Time 1) and the measures were repeated a year later (Time 2) to investigate the stability of young children’s self-reported MA and its effect on maths achievement.
Design: The study was a correlational design, part of a cohort-sequential longitudinal study, comparing numeracy and problem-solving skills and self-reported maths anxiety.
Method: Participants ( N= 404; 49% male, Mean age = 60 months, Range 53-70 months) were recruited from 4 local state primary schools, in Dundee, Scotland. At the beginning of year 1, (Time 1), children completed Child Maths Anxiety Questionnaire (CMAQ; Ramirez et al., 2013) and Wechsler Individual Achievement Test – 3rd UK Edition (WIAT-iii UK) (Pearson, 2009) numeracy and problem-solving subscales. One year later (Time 2), the children completed the CMAQ and WIAT-iii UK tests again.
Results: Scores on CMAQ were classified as either High (Mean MA +1SD) (Ramirez et al., 2013), Average, or Low (Mean MA -1SD). At Time 1, 23% of Cohort 1 and 29% of Cohort 2 participants reported High Maths Anxiety. This was related to their maths performance.
On average, high MA participants had lower scores than other participants on numeracy (High MA Mean= 87.39; Average MA Mean = 93.84; Low MA Mean = 92.48) (see Figure 1) and problem-solving (High MA Mean= 87.93; Average MA Mean = 94.42; Low MA Mean = 93.31) (see Figure 2) tasks. At Time 1, there was a significant main effect of MA on numeracy score (F(2,386) = 5.3, p = .007) and problem-solving score (F(2,386) = 7.55, p < .001). Children with high MA had poorer performance on both numeracy and problem-solving tasks.
At Time 2, the level of High Maths Anxiety for Cohort 1 participants remained stable at 23.6%. A paired t-test found no significant difference between maths anxiety in Time 1 and Time 2 for Cohort 1 participants (t(177) = -.64, p = .52). Analyses on how levels of Maths Anxiety relate to performance at Time 2 are yet to be completed.
Conclusions: Children as young as 4.5 years reported that they felt maths anxiety at the beginning of formal learning. Around one-quarter reported they felt high levels of worry and this was related to their performance on numeracy and problem-solving tasks. The children’s maths anxiety persisted into the second year of formal schooling. As maths anxiety is related to long term maths achievement which affects life chances, it appears that interventions to tackle MA are required even at the early stages of learning.

Authors

• Dawn Sandra Short, Abertay University
  Presenting Author

• Janet McLean, Abertay University
  Non-Presenting Author