TITLE:
Math Anxiety Differentially Affects Boys’ and Girls’ Arithmetic, Reading and Fluid Intelligence Skills in Fifth Graders
AUTHORS:
Tamara M. J. Schleepen, Hanneke I. Van Mier
KEYWORDS:
Mathematics Anxiety, Gender Differences, Mental Arithmetic, Reading, Fluid Intelligence
JOURNAL NAME:
Psychology,
Vol.7 No.14,
December
12,
2016
ABSTRACT: Previous research has shown
that math anxiety negatively affected cognitive performance in adults and
adolescents beyond arithmetic. In children, math anxiety has been reported to
impair arithmetic performance mainly in girls, but the effect of math anxiety
on other cognitive skills has not been investigated in children so far. To fill
this gap, the present study examined the effects of math anxiety on arithmetic,
reading and fluid intelligence in 5th-grade children, studying
possible gender differences and controlling for the effects of test anxiety.
The results indicated marked gender
differences in the relation between math anxiety and cognitive abilities, showing that only in girls’ math anxiety was negatively correlated with
arithmetic, reading and fluid intelligence. In boys, no significant
correlations were found between math anxiety and the three cognitive abilities.
Theoretical and practical implications of these results will be discussed.