The longitudinal role of mathematics anxiety in mathematics development: Issues of gender differences and domain-specificity

摘要

Introduction: Mathematics anxiety (MA) is an important risk factor hindering the development of confidence and capability in mathematics and participation in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics workforce. The aim of the present study is to further our understanding of these relations in adolescence by adopting a threefold approach. First, we adopted a longitudinal design to clarify the temporal order in the developmental relations between (a) MA and mathematics achievement and (b) MA and mathematics self-perceived ability. Second, we investigated whether the developmental relations between MA and mathematics achievement/self-perceived ability differed between boys and girls. Finally, we explored the domain-specificity of MA by examining its role in foreign language (L2) learning.