Relations between parental expectation, mathematics ability, mathematics anxiety, achievement on mathematics word problems, and overall mathematics achievement in black adolescents.

摘要

The goal of this study was to determine the relationship between student's overall mathematics performance and performance on word problems (problem-solving) and selected mathematics performance-related variables, i.e., students' gender, mathematical self-concept, mathematics ability, mathematics anxiety, parental expectation for students' performance, and socioeconomic status.;The sample consisted of 376 seventh- and eighth-grade students (152 males and 224 females) from two junior high schools in New York City. The total sample was comprised of students from five mini-schools within the larger junior high school settings.;The Necessary Facts Test, the Necessary Arithmetic Operations Test, the Right Order Test, the Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale--Adolescents (MARS-A), and a Mathematical Self-Concept Scale (Self-Concept of Ability: Mathematics Specific Subject Scale (Form BA) were administered to students. Students' parents were asked to complete a Parental Expectation Scale. Socioeconomic Status was estimated from Census Tract information. Mathematics and Reading Achievement scores from city-wide tests were obtained from school records.;Treatment of the data included looking at overall Mathematics Achievement and more specifically at Mathematics Problem-Solving. In each area a stepwise and an hierarchical regression analysis were performed. In the regression analyses, to control for differences in reading ability, reading was considered a covariate.;Results show that with regard to overall Mathematics Achievement and Mathematics Problem-Solving, the Right Order Test was the most powerful predictor, followed by Parental Expectation. Mathematical Self-Concept was also found to be a significant predictor.