Early Childhood Educators’ Math Anxiety and Its Relation to Their Pedagogic Actions in Swedish Preschools

Figures & data

Table 1. Descriptive statistics and Mann-Whitney U tests across all measures between certified preschool teachers and caregivers.

							Mann-Whitney U
Measure	Certification	N	Mean	Median	Stand. Dev	Min-Max	Statistic	p	Effect Size (r)
General Math Anxiety	Preschool teacher	189	14.97	12.00	7.84	1–35	14347	.308	.062
	Caregiver	163	16.05	14.00	8.34	1–35
Math Teaching Anxiety	Preschool teacher	189	12.69	10.00	6.75	1–35	12117	<.001***	.208
	Caregiver	163	15.20	14.00	7.42	1–35
Frequency of Math Teaching	Preschool teacher	189	4.03	4.00	0.92	1–5	14331	.264	.063
	Caregiver	163	3.88	4.00	0.72	1–5
Frequency of Math Talk	Preschool teacher	189	53.52	53.00	8.38	1–75	13990	.164	.086
	Caregiver	163	54.48	54.00	8.99	1–75

Note. *p < 0.05, **p <.01, ***p <.001.

Table 5. Hierarchical regression results: predictors of math teaching frequency among certified preschool teachers(N = 189).

Overall Model Test
R^2	.071(p=0.043)			.103(p=0.008)			.091(p=0.018)			.103(p=0.015)
F	2.22 (df= 6)			2.84 (df= 7)			2.49 (df= 7)			2.48 (df= 8)
	Model 1			Model 2			Model 3			Model 4
R^2 change	-			.032 (p=0.014)			.020 (p= 0.50)			.032 (p= 0.48)
F change				6.15 (df= 1)			3.91 (df= 1)			3.08 (df= 2)
Variable	B Estimate (SE)	Stand. Estimate (β)	p	B Estimate (SE)	Stand. Estimate (β)	p	B Estimate (SE)	Stand. Estimate (β)	p	B Estimate (SE)	Stand. Estimate (β)	p
Constant	3.364(.315)**		<.001	3.679 (.336)**		<.001	3.604 (.335)		<.001	3.688 (.339)**		<.001
Child Group (both)	172(.138)	.238	.215	.191 (.136)	.264	.163	.160 (.137)	.221	.245	.187 (.138)	.259	.176
Child Group (younger)	−.103(.123)	−.143	.404	−.044 (.124)	−.060	.724	−.057 (.125)	−.079	.644	−.042 (.125)	−.0584	.735
Years of work in preschool	−.006(.009)	−.102	.471	−.004 (.009)	−.063	.652	−.006 (.009)	−.091	.512	.004 (.009)	.-.065	.643
Teachers’ age	.017(.009)	.253	.074	.014 (.009)	.211	.132	.016 (.009)	.233	.098	.014 (.009)	.212	.131
Teachers’ gender (non-binary)	.820(.721)	1.130	.257	.709 (.712)	.977	.321	.851 (.715)	1.173	.236	.725 (.718)	.999	.314
Teachers’ gender (male)	.442(.212)	.610	.038	.388 (.210)	.535	.066	.423 (.210)	.584	.046	.390 (.211)	.538	.066
Teachers’ general math anxiety				-.017(.007)*	−.184	.014	-	-	-	−.015 (.010)	−.166	.138
Teachers’ math teaching anxiety							-.016 (.008)	−.147	.050*	−.002 (.012)	−.024	.828

Note. *p<.050, **p<.001.

Table 2. Factor loadings of items, total factor loadings and percentage of variance in MAST-P.

		Factor Loadings
		1	2	Uniqueness
General Math Anxiety	Item 1		.829	.267
	Item 2		.939	.136
	Item 3		.834	.214
	Item 4		.904	.218
	Item 5		.605	.555
	Item 6		.600	.217
	Item 7		.449	.160
Math Teaching Anxiety	Item 8	.614		.447
	Item 9	.775		.355
	Item 10	.885		.257
	Item 11	.752		.355
	Item 12	.883		.252
	Item 13	.811		.246
	Item 14	.810		.262
SS Loadings		4.853	4.465
% of Variance		34.66	31.89
Cumulative %		34.7	66.6

Note. ‘Minimum residual’ extraction method was used in combination with an ‘oblimin’ rotation.

Table 3. Correlation matrix and Descriptive Statistics of Variables for Certified Preschool Teachers (N = 189).

Correlation Matrix				Descriptive Statistics of Variables
		1a	1b	α	Mean	SD	Min	Max
Pearson’s r	Math Anxiety
	1a. General Math Anxiety			.938	2.14	1.12	1	5
	1b. Math Teaching Anxiety	.741***		.938	1.81	.964
Spearman’s rho	Math-Related Pedagogic Actions
	2. Frequency of Math Teaching	-.204**	-.192**		4.03	.721	1	5
	3. Frequency of Math Talk in the 3 areas	-.179*	-.243***	.896	3.57	.559	1	5
	3a. Frequency of Math Talk -Counting	-.176*	-.272***	.694	3.87	.582	5	5
	During gatherings	−.164*	−.222**		4.15	.684	1	5
	Clearing table	−.100	−.157*		3.34	1.20
	Halls	−.051	−.096		3.58	.851
	Teaching situations	−.236**	−.358***		4.33	.737
	Excursions	−.172*	−.189**		3.94	.762
	3b. Frequency of Math Talk -Patterns	−.083	−.108	.809	3.45	.663	1	5
	During gatherings	−.048	−.072		3.59	.735	1	5
	Clearing table	−.063	−.011		2.70	1.16
	Halls	−.042	−.076		3.64	.756
	Teaching situations	−.200**	−.297***		3.87	.841
	Excursions	−.098	−.121		3.43	.839
	3c. Frequency of Math Talk - Geometry	−.197**	−.269***	.794	3.39	.648	1	5
	During gatherings	−.206**	−.257***		3.57	.793	1	5
	Clearing table	−.084	−.146*		2.92	1.12
	Halls	−.083	−.133		3.06	.861
	Teaching situations	−.264***	−.289***		3.95	.787
	Excursions	−.232**	−.248***		3.44	.760

Note. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001.

Table 4. Correlation matrix and descriptive statistics of variables for certified caregivers (N = 163).

Correlation Matrix				Descriptive Statistics of Variables
		1a	1b	Α	Mean	SD	Min	Max
Pearson’s r	Math Anxiety
	1a. General Math Anxiety			.931	2.29	1.19	1	5
	1b. Math Teaching Anxiety	.707***		.917	2.17	1.06
Spearman’s rho	Math-related Pedagogic Actions
	2. Frequency of Math Teaching	−.073	−.054		3.88	.922	1	5
	3. Frequency of Math Talk in the 3 areas	−.036	−.042	.909	3.63	.600	1	5
	3a. Frequency of Math Talk -Counting	−.008	−.072	.758	3.92	.630	1	5
	During gatherings	−.065	−.140		4.13	.773	1	5
	Clearing table	−.029	−.120		3.65	1.02
	Halls	.002	.012		3.72	.909
	Teaching situations	.018	−.006		4.16	.863
	Excursions	.104	.066		3.94	.836
	3b. Frequency of Math Talk -Patterns	−.0017	−.018	.841	3.52	.716	1	5
	During gatherings	−.061	−.055		3.70	.842	1	5
	Clearing table	−.039	−.114		3.01	1.09
	Halls	.049	.114		3.59	.831
	Teaching situations	.097	.070		3.85	.872
	Excursions	−.024	.013		3.48	.914
	3c. Frequency of Math Talk - Geometry	−.051	−.070	.729	3.45	.729	1	5
	During gatherings	−.030	−.023		3.60	.837	1	5
	Clearing table	−.066	−.096		3.18	1.04
	Halls	−.076	−.070		3.17	.975
	Teaching situations	.097	.016		3.88	.866
	Excursions	−.067	−.068		3.43	.825

Note. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001.

Table 6. Hierarchical regression results: predictors of frequency of math talk in all areas among certified preschool teachers(N = 189).

Overall Model Test
R^2	.086 (p = <.014)			.126 (p=0.001)			.136 (p = <.001)			.139 (p = <.001)
F	2.75 (df= 6)			3.57 (df= 7)			3.91 (df= 7)			3.47 (df= 8)
	Model 1			Model 2			Model 3			Model 4
R^2 change	-			.039 (p=0.006)			0.502 (p= 0.002)			.052 (p= 0.006)
F change	-			7.86 (df= 1)			10.1 (df= 1)			5.25 (df= 2)
Variable	B Estimate (SE)	Stand. Estimate (β)	p	B Estimate (SE)	Stand. Estimate (β)	p	B Estimate (SE)	Stand. Estimate (β)	p	B Estimate (SE)	Stand. Estimate (β)	p
Constant	47.369(3.617)**		<.001	51.436(3.833)		<.001	51.705(3.782)**		<.001	52.144(3.84)		<.001
Child Group (both)	4.294(1.587)	.512	.007*	4.544(1.558)	.542	.004*	4.07(1.548)	.486	.009*	4.22(1.56)	.050	.008*
Child Group (younger)	−.421(1.418)	−.503	.767	.346(1.417)	.041	.807	.404(1.40)	.048	.774	.485(1.414)	.058	.732
Years of work in preschool	−.021(.110)	−.026	.849	.013(.109)	.016	.905	−.009(.107)	−.011	.933	0.000565 (.109)	0.000714	.996
Teachers’ age	.124(.111)	.156	.265	.087(.109)	.110	.425	.009(.108)	.125	.360	.092(.109)	.116	.400
Teachers’ gender (non-binary)	12.87(8.26)	1.53	.121	11.444(8.118)	1.366	.160	13.43(8.055)	1.60	.097	12.77(8.12)	1.524	.118
Teachers’ gender (male)	1.94 (2.431)	.231	.425	1.246(2.396)	.148	.604	1.596(2.372)	.190	.502	1.425(2.38)	.170	.552
Teachers’ general math anxiety				-.226(.080)	−.205	.006	-	-	-	−.082(.120)	−.075	.491
Teachers’ math teaching anxiety							-0.294(.092)	−.230	.002*	−0.222(.139)	−.174	.111

Note. *p<.050, **p<.001.