Math Anxiety Trajectories and Their Associations With STEM Career Attainment

• In Event: 32.025 - Antecedents and Consequences of Students' Math Anxiety

Abstract

This study sought to (a) identify groups of individuals who follow distinct development trajectories of math anxiety,(b) examine if math self-concept and math value differentiate the trajectory groups and (c) examine the relationship between membership in the trajectory groups and STEM career attainment. Longitudinal clustering analysis revealed four distinct trajectories in the development of math anxiety: consistently low, consistently high, decreasing and increasing. Multinomial logistic analysis showed that low self-concept is associated with membership in decreasing, increasing and consistently high group relative to membership in consistently low group. Binary logistic regression analysis revealed that relative to membership in consistently high group, membership in any of the three groups is more likely to be beneficial in terms of STEM career attainment.

Author

• Wondimu Ahmed, The University of Akron