The content specificity of math and english anxieties: The high school and beyond study

Abstract

The purposes of the present investigation were to examine the content specificity of math and English anxieties, to test the generality of predictions from the Internal/External (I/E) frame of reference model to anxiety responses, and to examine sex differences in anxiety responses. This was accomplished by fitting structural equation models, using LISREL, to data from the High School and Beyond (HSB) study. The results demonstrated a remarkable content specificity of these two academic anxieties; despite the substantial correlation between math and verbal test scores, math and English anxieties were nearly uncorrelated. As predicted by the I/E model, better math skills were associated with substantially lower math anxiety but slightly higher English anxiety, whereas better English skills were associated with substantially lower English anxiety but slightly higher math anxiety. Stereotypic sex differences were observed-women had higher math anxiety scores whereas men had higher English anxiety scores-and these differences remained after controlling for the small sex differences in the achievement tests. These results provide strong support for the usefulness of separating math and English anxieties, and add to a growing body of research arguing for the content specificity of many academic affects.

Key Words:

• Math anxiety
• English anxiety
• academic achievement
• LISREL