State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.
Advanced Innovation Center for Future Education, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.
Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2022 Nov;1517(1):191-202. doi: 10.1111/nyas.14902. Epub 2022 Sep 19.
Math anxiety is a widespread problem for children and adolescents worldwide. However, the psychological trait of math anxiety is poorly understood. The present study aimed to examine the psychological construct of math anxiety among social-emotional attitudes. A total of 28,726 students, including 17,378 fourth graders and 11,348 eighth graders, were selected from the Qingdao Basic Education Quality Assessment database using multi-stage cluster random sampling. There were 10 questionnaires assessing social-emotional attitudes in the database. Pearson's correlation analyses were performed to examine the intercorrelations between social-emotional attitudes and mathematical performance. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted to examine the psychological structure of these 10 social-emotional attitudes. After controlling for other social-emotional attitudes, math anxiety had a weak but significant correlation to mathematical performance in most subtests across grades. Among three-factor, four-factor, and five-factor EFA models, math anxiety was an independent factor that was separate from other social-emotional attitudes across six parallel subtests in grades four and eight. Math anxiety is a stable and independent psychological construct that is separate from other social-emotional attitudes. It suggests that math anxiety should be considered as a distinct anxiety disorder specific to mathematical learning in subsequent versions of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.
数学焦虑是全世界儿童和青少年普遍存在的问题。然而，数学焦虑的心理特征还不太清楚。本研究旨在考察社会情感态度中数学焦虑的心理结构。采用多阶段聚类随机抽样方法，从青岛基础教育质量评估数据库中选取了 28726 名学生，其中包括 17378 名四年级学生和 11348 名八年级学生。数据库中有 10 份问卷评估社会情感态度。通过 Pearson 相关分析，考察了社会情感态度与数学成绩之间的相互关系。通过探索性因素分析（EFA），考察了这 10 种社会情感态度的心理结构。在控制了其他社会情感态度后，数学焦虑与大多数年级的大多数子测试中的数学成绩呈弱但显著相关。在三因素、四因素和五因素 EFA 模型中，数学焦虑是一个独立的因素，与四年级和八年级的六个平行子测试中的其他社会情感态度分开。数学焦虑是一个稳定而独立的心理结构，与其他社会情感态度不同。这表明，在《精神障碍诊断与统计手册》的后续版本中，应该将数学焦虑视为一种与数学学习相关的特定焦虑障碍。
