Bieg Madeleine, Goetz Thomas, Wolter Ilka, Hall Nathan C
Department of Empirical Educational Research, University of Konstanz Konstanz, Germany.
Department of Empirical Educational Research, University of Konstanz Konstanz, Germany ; Department of Empirical Educational Research, Thurgau University of Teacher Education Kreuzlingen, Switzerland.
Front Psychol. 2015 Sep 17;6:1404. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01404. eCollection 2015.
Mathematics is associated with anxiety for many students; an emotion linked to lower well-being and poorer learning outcomes. While findings typically show females to report higher trait math anxiety than males, no gender differences have to date been found in state (i.e., momentary) math anxiety. The present diary study aimed to replicate previous findings in investigating whether levels of academic self-concept was related to this discrepancy in trait vs. state anxiety measures. Additionally, mathematics-related gender stereotype endorsement (mathematics is a male domain) was investigated as an additional predictor of the trait-state discrepancy. The sample included 755 German 9th and 10th graders who completed self-report measures of trait math anxiety, math self-concept, and gender stereotype endorsement, in addition to state measures of anxiety after math classes by use of a standardized diary for 2-3 weeks (N within = 6207). As expected, females reported higher trait math anxiety but no gender differences were found for state math anxiety. Also in line with our assumptions, multilevel analyses showed the discrepancy between trait and state anxiety to be negatively related to students' self-concept (i.e., a lower discrepancy for students with higher self-concepts). Furthermore, gender stereotype endorsement differentially predicted the trait-state discrepancy: When controlling for self-concept in mathematics, females who endorsed the gender stereotype of math being a male domain more strongly overestimated their trait math anxiety as compared to their state anxiety whereas this effect was not significant for males. The present findings suggest that gender stereotype endorsement plays an important role in explaining gender differences in math anxiety above and beyond academic self-concept. Implications for future research and educational practice are discussed.
对许多学生来说,数学与焦虑相关;这种情绪与较低的幸福感和较差的学习成绩有关。虽然研究结果通常表明,女性报告的特质数学焦虑高于男性,但迄今为止,在状态(即瞬间)数学焦虑方面尚未发现性别差异。本日记研究旨在重复先前的研究结果,调查学业自我概念水平是否与特质焦虑和状态焦虑测量中的这种差异有关。此外,还研究了与数学相关的性别刻板印象认同(数学是男性的领域)作为特质-状态差异的另一个预测因素。样本包括755名德国九年级和十年级学生,他们完成了特质数学焦虑、数学自我概念和性别刻板印象认同的自我报告测量,此外,还通过使用标准化日记在2至3周内对数学课之后的焦虑状态进行了测量(内部样本量N = 6207)。正如预期的那样,女性报告的特质数学焦虑较高,但在状态数学焦虑方面未发现性别差异。同样与我们的假设一致,多层次分析表明,特质焦虑和状态焦虑之间的差异与学生的自我概念呈负相关(即自我概念较高的学生差异较小)。此外,性别刻板印象认同对特质-状态差异有不同的预测作用:在控制数学自我概念时,更强烈认同数学是男性领域这一性别刻板印象的女性,相较于其状态焦虑,对自己的特质数学焦虑高估得更多,而这种影响在男性中并不显著。本研究结果表明,性别刻板印象认同在解释数学焦虑中的性别差异方面,在学术自我概念之外起着重要作用。文中讨论了对未来研究和教育实践的启示。