Developmental relations between mathematics anxiety, symbolic numerical magnitude processing and arithmetic skills from first to second grade

Figure 1. An illustration of a latent state model (longitudinal confirmatory factor model) for construct X with three indicators and two measurement points (A), a latent change model for construct X (B), and a bivariate latent change model for constructs X and Y with a predictor and an outcome (C). Factor loadings (λ) and intercepts are set to be invariant within constructs and over time in all models. Dashed lines represent latent correlations. Correlated residuals between respective items across the measurement points omitted for the sake of clarity.

Table 2. Correlation matrix of variables at t1 and t2.

Table 3. Descriptive statistics and latent correlations from the latent state model.

Table 4. Descriptive statistics and latent correlations from the latent change model.

Figure 2. Summary of main results from the multivariate latent change model with gender as a predictor and math performance as an outcome. For clarity, only effects and correlations at p < .05 (solid lines) and p < .10 (dashed lines) are displayed (along with unstandardised factor loadings).

Table 5. Predictive effects from the bivariate latent change model with gender as predictor and maths performance as an outcome.

Table A1. Overview of the studies (n = 27) of the relations between children’s (6–8 y.o.) mathematics anxiety and mathematics performance.

Cargnelutti, E., Tomasetto, C., & Passolunghi, M. C. (2017). How is anxiety related to math performance in young students? A longitudinal study of grade 2 to grade 3 children. Cognition and Emotion, 31(4), 755–764. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2016.1147421

Caviola, S., Primi, C., Chiesi, F., & Mammarella, I. C. (2017). Psychometric properties of the Abbreviated Math Anxiety Scale (AMAS) in Italian primary school children. Learning and Individual Differences, 55, 174–182. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2017.03.006

Ching, B. H.-H. (2017). Mathematics anxiety and working memory: Longitudinal associations with mathematical performance in Chinese children. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 51, 99–113. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2017.06.006

Dowker, A., Bennett, K., & Smith, L. (2012). Attitudes to mathematics in primary school children. Child Development Research, 2012, 1–8. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1155/2012/124939

Dowker, A., Cheriton, O., Horton, R., & Mark, W. (2019). Relationships between attitudes and performance in young children’s mathematics. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 100(3), 211–230. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1007/s10649-019-9880-5

Gunderson, E. A., Park, D., Maloney, E. A., Beilock, S. L., & Levine, S. C. (2018). Reciprocal relations among motivational frameworks, math anxiety, and math achievement in early elementary school. Journal of Cognition and Development, 19(1), 21–46. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1080/15248372.2017.1421538

Haase, V. G., Júlio-Costa, A., Pinheiro-Chagas, P., Oliveira, L. d. F. S., Micheli, L. R., & Wood, G. (2012). Math self-assessment, but not negative feelings, predicts mathematics performance of elementary school children. Child Development Research, 2012, 982672. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1155/2012/982672

Harari, R. R., Vukovic, R. K., & Bailey, S. P. (2013). Mathematics anxiety in young children: An exploratory study. The Journal of Experimental Education, 81(4), 538–555. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1080/00220973.2012.727888

Hartwright, C. E., Looi, C. Y., Sella, F., Inuggi, A., Santos, F. H., González-Salinas, C., García Santos, J. M., Kadosh, R. C., & Fuentes, L. J. (2018). The neurocognitive architecture of individual differences in math anxiety in typical children. Scientific Reports, 8(1), 8500. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-26912-5

Jameson, M. M. (2013). The development and validation of the children’s anxiety in math scale. Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment, 31(4), 391–395. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1177/0734282912470131

Justicia-Galiano, M. J., Martín-Puga, M. E., Linares, R., & Pelegrina, S. (2017). Math anxiety and math performance in children: The mediating roles of working memory and math self-concept. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 87(4), 573–589. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1111/bjep.12165

Krinzinger, H., Kaufmann, L., & Willmes, K. (2009). Math anxiety and math ability in early primary school years. Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment, 27(3), 206–225. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1177/0734282908330583

Kucian, K., Zuber, I., Kohn, J., Poltz, N., Wyschkon, A., Esser, G., & von Aster, M. (2018). Relation between mathematical performance, math anxiety, and affective priming in children with and without developmental dyscalculia. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 263. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00263

Lauer, J. E., Esposito, A. G., & Bauer, P. J. (2018). Domain-specific anxiety relates to children’s math and spatial performance. Developmental Psychology, 54(11), 2126–2138. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0000605

Lu, Y., Li, Q., Patrick, H., & Mantzicopoulos, P. (2021). “Math gives me a tummy ache!” Mathematics anxiety in kindergarten. The Journal of Experimental Education, 89(2), 362–378. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1080/00220973.2019.1680518

Pantoja, N., Schaeffer, M. W., Rozek, C. S., Beilock, S. L., & Levine, S. C. (2020). Children’s math anxiety predicts their math achievement over and above a key foundational math skill. Journal of Cognition and Development, 21(5), 709–728. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1080/15248372.2020.1832098

Primi, C., Donati, M. A., Izzo, V. A., Guardabassi, V., O’Connor, P. A., Tomasetto, C., & Morsanyi, K. (2020). The Early Elementary School Abbreviated Math Anxiety Scale (the EES-AMAS): A new adapted version of the AMAS to measure math anxiety in young children. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 14. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01014

Ramirez, G., Chang, H., Maloney, E. A., Levine, S. C., & Beilock, S. L. (2016). On the relationship between math anxiety and math achievement in early elementary school: The role of problem solving strategies. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 141, 83–100. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2015.07.014

Ramirez, G., Gunderson, E. A., Levine, S. C., & Beilock, S. L. (2013). Math anxiety, working memory, and math achievement in early elementary school. Journal of Cognition and Development, 14(2), 187–202. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1080/15248372.2012.664593

Sorvo, R., Koponen, T., Viholainen, H., Aro, T., Räikkönen, E., Peura, P., Dowker, A., & Aro, M. (2017). Math anxiety and its relationship with basic arithmetic skills among primary school children. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 87(3), 309–327. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1111/bjep.12151

Sorvo, R., Koponen, T., Viholainen, H., Aro, T., Räikkönen, E., Peura, P., Tolvanen, A., & Aro, M. (2019). Development of math anxiety and its longitudinal relationships with arithmetic achievement among primary school children. Learning and Individual Differences, 69, 173–181. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2018.12.005

Van Mier, H. I., Schleepen, T. M. J., & Van den Berg, F. C. G. (2019). Gender differences regarding the impact of math anxiety on arithmetic performance in second and fourth graders. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 2690. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02690

Vukovic, R. K., Kieffer, M. J., Bailey, S. P., & Harari, R. R. (2013). Mathematics anxiety in young children: Concurrent and longitudinal associations with mathematical performance. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 38(1), 1–10. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2012.09.001

Wood, G., Pinheiro-Chagas, P., Júlio-Costa, A., Micheli, L. R., Krinzinger, H., Kaufmann, L., Willmes, K., & Haase, V. G. (2012). Math anxiety questionnaire: Similar latent structure in Brazilian and German school children. Child Development Research, 2012, 1–10. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1155/2012/610192

Wu, S. S., Willcutt, E. G., Escovar, E., & Menon, V. (2014). Mathematics achievement and anxiety and their relation to internalizing and externalizing behaviors. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 47(6), 503–514. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1177/0022219412473154

Zhang, J., Zhao, N., & Kong, Q. P. (2019). The relationship between math anxiety and math performance: A meta-analytic investigation. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 1613. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01613

Hopko, D. R., Mahadevan, R., Bare, R. L., & Hunt, M. K. (2003). The abbreviated math anxiety scale (AMAS): Construction, validity, and reliability. Assessment, 10(2), 178–182. https://doi.org/http://doi.org/10.1177/1073191103010002008

Thomas, G., & Dowker, A. (2000, September 15). Mathematics anxiety and related factors in young children. Paper presented at British Psychological Society Developmental Section Conference, Bristol.

Carmo, J. S. (2008). Escala de ansiedade à matemática. Análise do comportamento e ensino-aprendizagem da matemática. The Federal University of São Carlos [Unpublished].

Kohn, J., Richtmann, V., Rauscher, L., Kucian, K., Käser, T., Grond, U., Esser, G., & von Aster, M. (2013). Das Mathematikangstinterview (MAI): Erste psychometrische Gütekriterien. Lernen und Lernstörungen, 2(3), 177–189. https://doi.org/http://doi.org/10.1024/2235-0977/a000040