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CAUSES AND CORRELATES OF MATHEMATICS ANXIETY AND MATHEMATICS ACHIEVEMENT: A PATH ANALYTIC APPROACH
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to examine and explore the interrelationships among selected psychological variables related to achievement in mathematics that were hypothesized to be associated with the development of mathematics anxiety. College undergraduates were measured on the following variables: sex, sex-role orientation, number of mathematics courses taken, spatial ability, field independence, logical reasoning ability, locus of control, attitude toward mathematics, trait anxiety, achievement anxiety, mathematics anxiety, and mathematics achievement. Based on the research literature, a theoretical causal model of mathematics achievement and anxiety was developed and tested by the method of path analysis using the LISREL computer program. A goal of this research was to develop a plausible model which adequately represents the theorized causes of mathematics anxiety and the influences on mathematics achievement. The results of the path analysis found logical reasoning ability, number of mathematics courses taken, spatial ability, and mathematics attitude to be important causal factors of achievement in mathematics. The factors affecting mathematics anxiety were mathematics achievement, attitude toward mathematics, trait anxiety, and debilitating anxiety. A discriminant analysis was performed to investigate which variables were best at differentiating between low and high mathematics anxiety subjects. Mathematics attitude, mathematics achievement, field indepedence, and the anxiety measures were found to be significant predictors of level of mathematics anxiety. An analysis of the variables for any sex differences was also conducted. Differences between males and females were found for the feminine sex-role orientation, spatial ability, and number of mathematics courses taken variables. Males were superior in the latter two measures. The approach taken for this study allowed for a more comprehensive analysis of the variables than has usually been attempted. This investigation has provided additional insight into the possible causes of mathematics anxiety and the factors influencing mathematics achievement, which can be useful to researchers and practitioners interested in a better understanding of the topic.
Subject Area
Educational psychology
Recommended Citation
OLSON, JOHN FRANCE, "CAUSES AND CORRELATES OF MATHEMATICS ANXIETY AND MATHEMATICS ACHIEVEMENT: A PATH ANALYTIC APPROACH" (1985). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI8526600.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI8526600