Reciprocal relations between math achievement, math ability self-concept and math anxiety in 1st grade

• In Event: Poster Session 13
  In Poster Session: PS 13 Topic - Cognitive Processes

Abstract

The longitudinal relation between math achievement and math attitudes has typically not been examined in young children from low socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds, who tend to perform worse in math than their peers from higher SES backgrounds, a difference at least partly explained by differences in early math-related input (Levine et al., 2010). Understanding how math attitudes and math skills develop in children from low SES backgrounds can inform the development of interventions for students that are particularly at risk for low math achievement.

We focus on two math attitudes related to young children’s math achievement: math ability self-concept (i.e., perception of math ability) and math anxiety. The direction of the relation between math achievement and math attitudes has been debated. A few studies have examined these relations longitudinally in young children. Some of these studies have found math achievement to be reciprocally related to math self-concept and math anxiety, while others have found math achievement to more strongly predict these math attitudes than the reverse (Arens et al., 2016; Ching et al., 2020; Gunderson et al., 2018). Additionally, a few studies with adolescents have examined whether math attitudes are longitudinally related to each other. These studies suggest that math attitudes are reciprocally related to each other, or that math self-concept more strongly predicts math anxiety than the reverse (Ahmed et al., 2012; Wang et al., 2020).

We ask whether math attitudes are longitudinally related to each other and to math achievement in young children from low SES backgrounds. Our study is the first, to our knowledge, to examine the relation of math achievement, math self-concept, and math anxiety, in young children from low SES backgrounds. We examined longitudinal relations of math achievement, math self-concept, and math anxiety in 484 1st grade children from Chicago schools, whose caregivers reported an average household income of $29,800 (SD=$27,364), and that 83.6% of children were African American or Black, 3.7% were Hispanic or Latino/a, 0.6% were White, and 11.9% were Other or two or more races. To assess math achievement, we administered the Applied Problems subtest of the Woodcock-Johnson IV, which assesses math word problem solving skills.

Our results show that in 1st grade (a) fall math self-concept predicts spring math anxiety and vice versa: math self-concept to math anxiety (r(439)=-.184, p<.001); math anxiety to math self-concept (r(438)=-.224, p<.001); (b) fall math self-concept predicts spring math achievement and vice versa: math self-concept to math achievement (r(436)=.172, p<.001); math achievement to math self-concept (r(436)=.191, p<.001); (c) fall math achievement predicts spring math anxiety (r(435)=-.202, p<.001), but fall math anxiety does not significantly predict spring math achievement (r(436)=-.008, p=.869).

In summary, children from low SES backgrounds show close relations between key math attitudes with each other, and between key math attitudes with math achievement by 1st grade. These findings have important implications for interventions, suggesting that efforts to narrow the SES-related math achievement gap may be more successful if they not only focus on young children’s math learning but also on their math attitudes.

Authors

• Nancy Pantoja, University of Chicago
  Presenting Author

• Talia Berkowitz, Wesleyan University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Julianne Herts, University of Chicago
  Non-Presenting Author

• Sian L. Beilock, Barnard college
  Non-Presenting Author

• Susan Cohen Levine, University of Chicago
  Non-Presenting Author