Early Signs of Mathematics Anxiety

By E. Aarnos, P. Perkkilä. 2012

53 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Abstract Mathematics anxiety refers to individual's negative affect when engaging in numerical and mathematical tasks. Researchers have recently connected high math anxiety to lower performance on math tasks, developmental dyscalculia, and lower self-efficacy towards math learning. Math anxiety scales have been made and validated mainly for secondary school and high school students. In our paper we are looking for early signs of math anxiety using a Pictorial Test (37 pictures) which we have developed for 6 to 8 year old children. Children were asked to concentrate on one picture at a time and to write down spontaneously their emotional and mathematical ideas. Most powerful sources of sadness were real life subjects as animals and human beings. We also found high negative correlation between sadness ( ) and math productions (r=-.60**). As a conclusive remark we are looking for ways in which school can respond to the learning challenges of these children.

Subfields: Education, Experimental and Cognitive Psychology, Statistics and Probability

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/53fd701cab1278fd75005512eaab174655cb74bc

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In Education

In Experimental and Cognitive Psychology

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Citations in the corpus

Math Anxiety: Past Research, Promising Interventions, and a New Interpretation Framework (2018, background): “A number of studies have reported reliable evidence that first graders experience math-specific anxiety (Aarnos & Perkkil€a, 2012; Ramirez et al., 2016; Ramirez et al., 2013; Thomas & Dowker, 2000).”
Psychometric properties of the Abbreviated Math Anxiety Scale (AMAS) in Italian primary school children (2017, methodology): “Only few studies focused on younger samples (Harari, Vukovic, & Bailey, 2013; Krinzinger, Kaufmann, & Willmes, 2009; Ramirez, Gunderson, Levine, & Beilock, 2013) highlighting as initial signs of MA may emerge as early as 6 years-old (Aarnos & Perkkilä, 2012).”
Learning environment, attitudes and anxiety across the transition from primary to secondary school mathematics (2019, background): “Several studies also suggest that mathematics anxiety can begin at an early age (Aarnos and Perkkila 2012; Jackson and Leffingwell 1999; Ramirez et al. 2013; Scarpello 2007).”
Mathematics Anxiety and Its Development in the Course of Formal Schooling—A Review (2013, background): “For example, Aarnos and Perkkilä (2012) developed a pictorial test for early signs of math anxiety (37 pictures) suitable for six to eight-year-old children.”
Cognitive and Emotional Math Problems Largely Dissociate: Prevalence of Developmental Dyscalculia and Mathematics Anxiety (2017, background): “Although MA is present in younger school children (Aarnos & Perkkilä, 2012; Chiu & Henry, 1990; Newstead, 1998; Ramirez, Gunderson, Levine, & Beilock, 2013), MA and negative attitudes toward mathematics appear to increase at the secondary school level (Blatchford, 1996; Dowker, 2005) and persist…”