Mathematics and Math Anxiety: Gender differences in Primary

Education

Researcher1, Researcher2

Abstract

Recent research findings indicate that students’ performance is influenced by

psychological factors such as math anxiety (MA). For that reason, this study examined
the existence of MA in primary education and how MA differentiates according to
gender. The sample consisted of one hundred and twenty (N = 120) sixth graders from
four public schools. A fifteen-question, relatively reliable questionnaire was developed
which employed the Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale (MARS), the Mathematics
Anxiety Scale (MAS) and the Abbreviated Math Anxiety Scale (AMAS). The analysis
of the results showed that MA existed at primary school aged students, while the female
students exhibited higher MA than their male counterparts.

Key words: Math anxiety, Mathematics, Gender differences, Primary education

Introduction
During a survey, 1,000 students were asked whether they would prefer to eat
broccoli or do math. More than half (56%) responded that they would prefer to eat
broccoli (Raytheon Company, 2012). In the same survey, 44% responded that they
would rather take out the trash than do math homework. The in-depth exploration of
the subject of mathematics gets complicated by the subject’s own nature, among other
things. Reading consists of five key factors, namely: phonological awareness, decoding,
fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. The corresponding analysis of mathematical
factors, however, is not equally well defined (Geary, 2005), though we can distinguish
large groups of factors in this case as well. Specifically, concerning Primary School,
the most essential factors are the concept of number, calculations, algorithms of
mathematical operations and the comprehension of the mathematical problems’
language code. During high school, these factors are replaced by algebra, geometry,
trigonometry, and logical-mathematical thinking (Fuchs, et al., 2006). A particular
factor involved in mathematics and exacerbating its difficulty in comprehension is the
language of mathematics, which is conceptually dense (Rivera, 1996) and laconic in

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relation to conventional language (an example of mathematical code utilized outside
the subject of mathematics). Fuchs et al. (2006), analyzing the data of a large-scale
research in 3rd grade Primary School students regarding the cognitive processes
involved in the three basic modules of mathematics: enumeration; the execution of
algorithms of the four mathematical operations; and the verbal mathematical problems,
showed that attention constitutes the dominant cognitive process involved in all of these
difficult essential skills, while short-term and long-term memory also appear to have an
important impact. This study had one goal. To provide evidence for gender maths
anxiety differences among pupils attending 6th grade. Due to the dearth of available
literature there is no evidence of clear difference in genders maths anxiety of sixth
graders.

Literature review

Math anxiety
Whilst some problems in maths are related to difficulty understanding the
material, emotional difficulties might be responsible for some other issues. The term
math anxiety (MA) is defined as a negative emotional response evoked when someone
is struggling with situations that involve mathematics (Cipora, Szczygiel, Willmes &
Nuerk 2015). MA describes a negative emotional reaction to mathematics, which can
affect an individual’s ability to perform mathematical tasks. In addition, MA weakens
student math self-confidence and generally, it doesn’t let students enjoy the trip to
“mathland”.

To help understand when the state of MA happens, the “Growth Zone Model” of
Johnston-Wilder and his colleagues (2013) was deployed. As shown in Figure 1, there
are three zones when the student tackles with a mathematical situation: The Comfort
zone, where the student feels confident; the Growth zone, where the student experiences
learning; the Anxiety zone, where the student begins to expose himself to MA.

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 Figure 1 Growth Zone Model

MA is a condition which can cause several symptoms, including emotional -for

instance, feelings of apprehension, aversion, tension, distress, irritation or fear-,
physical -for instance butterflies, tachycardia, struggling to catch your breath-, or
behavioral -for instance not acting properly in class, avoiding maths assignments and
studying (Hembree, 1990). Young school children from approximately the age of 6 are
reported to exhibit maths anxiety (Krinzinger, Kaufmann & Willmes 2009; Beilock et
al., 2010; Vukovic et al., 2013). As Dowker, Sarkar and Looi (2016) mentioned
negative attitudes towards mathematics usually increase at secondary school age and
remain during post-secondary education and throughout adulthood. It is hard to
determine how often maths anxiety occurs, because measures of maths anxiety are
continuous and there is no clear limit regarding whether an individual is maths-anxious
or not (Devine, Hill, Carey & Szucs 2018). Maths anxiety has an impact on individual
wellbeing – e.g. some students will face with fear their math lessons or skip their maths
homework due to a dislike of experiencing negative emotions (Dowker et al., 2016).
Additionally, intellectual factors may be associated with maths anxiety. Children with
developmental dyscalculia and other mathematics learning disabilities are more likely
to have mathematics anxiety (Rubinsten & Tannock 2010; Passolunghi 2011).
Furthermore, maths anxiety may be influenced by an individual’s other personal
characteristics. Those can be gender, where girls show that they are more likely to
experience anxiety about maths (Bieg et al., 2015); Self-esteem where a lower self-
esteem leads to higher levels of math related anxiety (Abbasi, Samadzadeh &
Shahbazzadegan 2013); Instruction and learning style with more negative experiences
with instructional methods had higher levels of MA compared to those who had fewer

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negative experiences (O'Leary, Fitzpatrick & Hallett 2017); and attitude towards maths
with those who generally like maths usually appear to have lower maths anxiety levels
than those who dislike maths (Kargar, Tarmizi & Bayat, 2010).

Gender differences
Studies regarding adult populations have revealed females to have higher MA
than males (Ferguson et al., 2015; Van Mier, Schleepen & Van den Berg, 2019). In the
majority of the countries participating in PISA, females demonstrated higher anxiety
than males (OECD, 2013). Furthermore, the idea that MA is developed in early
childhood has grown among the researchers (Vukovic et al., 2013). However, studies
investigating gender related MA in primary education is scarce. Although, most studies
reported no gender differences, some research has indicated that the MA gender
difference is present in primary aged students (Griggs et al., 2013). Nevertheless, a
recent research of Puteh and Khalin (2016) showed no different levels in math anxiety
between boys (males) and girls (females). Yet, it is ambiguous if female or male
primary school students experience different levels of math anxiety (Hill et al. 2016).
Collectively, although previous reports on MA differences between gender have
been based upon results obtained from secondary school samples, MA differences are
likely to develop during primary school years or even earlier (Hill et al. 2016). Thus,
considering the gap in the literature on MA between boys (males) and girls (females)
at the primary educational level, the purpose of this study was to measure MA and to
examine if there were different levels of MA between primary-aged boys and girls.

Math anxiety in Primary Education ages

Research on math anxiety was conducted mostly in the United States and Great
Britain but recently other countries have also shown interest in MA (Devine 2012;
Suárez-Pellicioni, Núñez-Peña & Colomé, 2015). Nevertheless, evidence regarding
math anxiety during primary school years is lacking (Morsanyi et al. 2016).
Furthermore, Morsanyi et al. (2016) reported that there is a gap in research in primary
education with the majority of studies employing university and secondary school
populations. Therefore, research on math anxiety related to primary school years
remains sparse. The importance of MA is also underlined by the fact that a relatively
high percentage (around 30%) of young students gets very nervous when they are

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attempting math problems (OECD, 2015). Finally, a PISA data analysis has highlighted
the relation between math anxiety and performance, and has shown that math anxiety
is a worldwide problem (Foley et al., 2017).

Social anxiety and shyness, due to fear of negative interpersonal evaluation and
rejection, are a common phenomenon in childhood and adolescence (Wilson, 2017).
Students with high levels of social anxiety reported in research that thoughts about the
impending event increased their anxiety (Wilson, 2017). According to Freud, school
simply increases the levels of children's anxiety (Apostolopoulou, 2011). Evaluation
seems to have an impact on the child's mental performance. This means that sometimes
anxiety overloads the brain's working memory and students perform less effective
(Marshall, Staddon, Wilson & Mann, 2017). Therefore, the learner has difficulty
performing additional learning functions, thus learning mechanically and not
performing based on real knowledge (Marušić & Matić, 2017).

In addition, anxiety restores memories from a student's previous reports to assessment

and math’s anxiety. As a result, the student face with fear the fact of the examination
by remembering similar facts and pictures of failure (Marušić & Matić, 2017). This
results in the student trying to avoid the assessment process and the maths as a subject
(Wilson, 2017). Furthermore, school stress has negative consequences on students'
psychosocial adjustment and development. Students, due to the failure to achieve high
scores in math’s tests and assessments, become less eligible than their peers to form
friendly relationships. Sometimes this leads to isolation. It is therefore an obstacle to
the development of adequate social skills, and creates a negative self-image, feelings of
failure and a less happy daily life. Further research in the educational field shows that
there is a negative correlation between math’s anxiety and academic performance
(Marušić & Matić, 2017).

Wilson (2017) has argued that students with high math’s anxiety tend to perform less
well than students with less stress, are self-critical and more likely to worry, but this
leads to poor performance. In general, weak students are the ones who have the higher
levels of anxiety, they are very strict with themselves and often with others. Children
face an internal conflict: on the one hand, their age and nature are such that they demand
play, and on the other, there is a need to perform at school. All this stress, however, has

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the opposite effect; anxiety becomes un-creative (Marshall, Staddon, Wilson & Mann,
2017).

Research Methodology
The number of primary school pupils participating in the research was N=120
following by 32 teachers. They were selected randomly, and specifically simple random
sampling was used while sample units was picked from the available sampling frame).
Also, all pupils were attending 6th grade at four different public schools; seventy-two
girls and forty-eight boys. The data collected via a structured questionnaire related to
student experience of MA, and was administered in schools. The questionnaire
consisted of two parts. Part A requested general information, about age, gender and
name of the school, while the fifteen questions in Part B collected information about
the MA status of the students. A 5-point Likert scale was used which indicated whether
the students “strongly agree” (5), “agreed” (4), “no opinion” (3), “disagree” (2) or
“strongly disagree” (1). Then, added the number (5 for “strongly agree”, etc.) of each
question for each student separately. At the end, the percentages that were calculated
for each student, were rounded off to the nearest integer. In addition, the mean value of
positive and negative feelings was calculated for each gender.

Moreover, the non-parametric Mann-Whitney U test was used to assess for significant
differences in the dependent variable “math anxiety” by the dichotomous independent
variable, “gender” and the dichotomous variable “position”, while Spearman rho was
used to check the relationship between two continuous variables. The questionnaire was
designed (and tested with Cronbach a = 0.78) to measure student math anxiety and to
examine any MA gender differences. The following measurement scales were used as
references: The Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale (MARS), the Mathematics Anxiety
Scale (MAS), and the Abbreviated Math Anxiety Scale (AMAS). The MARS and the
MAS are the most widely cited measurements used to explore math anxiety (Preston,
2008) and the AMAS is acknowledged as suitable for testing student math anxiety
between 11 to 16 years old (Devine et al. 2012), while it can also work competently in
contexts with cultural and linguistic diversity (Cipora et al., 2015).

Results
Primarily, the questionnaire was designed to provide information about the MA
at the primary educational level. Secondarily, but also of great importance, the

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questionnaire was used to gather data regarding the gender differences in MA. Figure
2 shows the gender percentages in the research sample. Specifically, 40% of the
sample’s population was male while 60% was female.

Figure 2 Gender percentages

The following Figure 3 demonstrates that girls have lower confidence than boys
concerning their math skills. The evidence supported by the results of questions that
have a positive feeling about mathematics, show that girls have lower score than boys.
However, in statement, “Generally I have felt secure about trying math”, as in
statement, “I usually get good grades in mathematics”, the girls’ percentage is quite
high, demonstrating that girls are competitive. On the other hand, though it is worth
noting that girls scored very low compared to boys in all positive-feeling questions;
hence, reporting greater emotional stress towards mathematics.

Figure 3 Gender’s positive feelings percentages

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In coherence with the previous results, the bar chart (Figure 4) revealed the weakness
of girls in relation to math skills. As can be seen from the results of the negative
emotional responses to maths, girls have a much higher score than boys. Therefore, the
results of Figure 4 supported those presented on Figure 3 associated with the
undoubtedly negative influence that MA has on girls. Furthermore, this suggests strong
negative emotional reaction towards math on behalf of girls. It can also be seen that the
percentages of statement, “I am unable to think clearly when working in mathematics”
are of great interest; the corresponding percentage of girls was 65% and that of boys
was 32%. It may well be argued that these high percentage-score revealed that both
genders had experienced difficulties when they were dealt with math assignments. In
addition, girls’ high percentage-score (74%) in statement, “Even though I study, math
seems unusually hard for me”, highlighted issues relevant to the instruction of
mathematics in 6th grade. Issues related to instructional problems, however, are a
challenge for teachers to consider and deal. Although the results showed a higher rate
of mathematical anxiety for girls than boys, boys were exposed to moderate level of
MA.

Figure 4 Gender negative feelings percentages

Additionally, Table 1, summarizes the results concerning the percentages for each
statement of positive and negative feelings about mathematics.

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 Table 1 Display (%) of the negative and positive feelings about Mathematics

Positive Feeling % Negative Feeling %

Statement Boy Girl Boy Girl

1.I usually have been at ease in math classes

47% 23%

2. I see math as a subject I will rarely use

16% 58%

3. I’ m not good at math

62% 15%

4. Generally, I have felt secure about attempting math

64% 32%

5. I’ll need mathematics for my future work

68% 25%

6. I usually get good grades in mathematics

72% 37%

7. I don’t think that I could do advanced math

25% 69%

8. It wouldn’t bother me at all to take more math classes

66% 23%

9. Even though I study, math seems unusually hard for

22% 74%
me

10. I am unable to think clearly when working in

32% 65%
mathematics

11. Knowing mathematics will help earn a living

62% 22%

12. Maths has been my worst subject

19% 52%

13. I think I could handle more difficult mathematics

61% 24%

14. I’m not the type to do well in mathematics

21% 64%

15. Math doesn’t scare me at all

70% 26%

Furthermore, Spearman’s non-parametric test show that statements assessing positive

feelings present positive statistically significant relationships between them (p < 0.05
or p < 0.01) (Table 2), while they present negative interaction with the majority of
negative feelings. In other words, higher scores on positive feelings’ statements are
associated with lower scores on negative feelings’ statements.

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 Table 2 Correlation between the statements
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
1 1 -.890** -.553** .593** .125 .018 -.563** .806** -.042 -.068 .527** -.096 .007 -.131* .058
** * ** ** *
2 1 .564 -.083 -.143 -.435 .099 -.008 .100 .099 -.590 .141 -.003 .119 -.108
** ** ** ** ** ** *
3 1 -.557 -.678 -.455 .071 -.070 .800 .083 -.474 .571 -.131 .126 -.066
4 1 .131* .452* -.680** .513** -.016 -.020 .675** -.031 .075 -.084 .190**
5 1 .800** -.111 .511** -.133* -.391** .354* -.509** .062 -.008 .078
* ** * * * **
6 1 -.130 .569 -.643 -.251 .241 -.773 .045 -.081 .105
** ** ** **
7 1 -.819 .103 .592 -.570 .169 -.077 .046 -.125
8 1 -.084 -.617** .562** -.172** .051 -.006 .177**
9 1 .505** -.096 .568** -.011 .020 -.032
** **
10 1 -.811 .809 -.111 .120 -.218**
11 1 -.711** .101 -.192** .224**
12 1 -.118 .227** -.195**
13 1 -.065 .082
14 1 -.048
15 1
** p < 0.01
* p < 0.05

Additionally, overall positive feelings about Maths present a significant strong negative
relationship with negative feelings about Maths (r = -.871, p < 0.01) (Table 3).

Table 3 Correlation between negative and positive feelings about Maths

Positive Negative
feelings feelings
Spearman's Positive Correlation Coefficient 1.000 -.871**
rho feelings Sig. (2-tailed) . .000
N 120 120
Negative Correlation Coefficient 1.000
feelings Sig. (2-tailed) .
N 120
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

In order to understand the magnitude of the results, the mean value of positive and
negative feelings were calculated for each gender. As it appeared in Figure 5, the
positive feelings about the subject of maths were a lot higher (55% boys and 27% girls)
for the boys in contrast to the higher percentage of girls with negative feelings (63%
females and 22% males). These results determined that there is a positive relationship

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between MA and gender, with females exhibiting higher negative feelings than their
male counterparts. Indeed, these findings suggest significant differences according to
gender.

Figure 5 Gender positive and negative feelings mean values

Next, for further statistical treatment of the data, the non-parametric Mann - Whitney
U test was conducted, because the assumption of normality for the variables Girl and
Boy was violated (Table 4). The Mann-Whitney U test was performed to see if there
were any gender differences in math anxiety.

Table 4 Tests of Normality

Gender Shapiro-Wilk
Sig.
Girl 0,000*
Anxiety Mean Score
Boy 0,002*

*p < 0.05
Shapiro – Wilk indicator suggests that Math anxiety presents non-normal distribution
on both male and female students (p < 0.05).

Those conclusions also supported by the following Mann – Whitney U test.

Specifically, on positive feelings (Table 5) the data suggest that male respondents
present higher scores (U = 8.41, p = .000) and as a result, boys show higher positive
feelings than girls. On the contrary, girls present higher levels of negative feelings that
the boys (U = 5.87, p = .000) and as a result, girls show more negative attitudes towards
maths.

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Table 5 Mann-Whitney U Test comparing Gender on Math anxiety mean score

Mean Rank

Variable Boy Girl Mann-Whitney U z p 

r z/ N 
Mean of Positive 90 30 5.329,000 8,4120 .00 .49
feelings

Mean of Negative 25 95 4.532,000 5,8720 .00 .34

feelings

Overall, the analysis of Mann-Whitney U test (Table 6) showed a significant difference

in the mean ranks of boys (96,50) and girls (36,50) on Math anxiety mean score, U =
3.456,000, p = .00, r = .85, which is a large effect size (Cohen, 1988).

Table 6 Mann-Whitney U Test comparing Gender on Math anxiety mean score

Mean Rank

Variable Boy Girl Mann-Whitney U z p 

r z/ N 
Math anxiety 96,5 36,5 3.456,000 9,270 .00 .85
mean score

The research results, therefore, indicated statistically significant differences in the math
anxiety of primary school pupils according to their gender (Boy /Girl). As the Mann-
Whitney U test revealed, girl-pupils have higher levels of math anxiety than boy-pupils.

Finally, comparing the answers of students and teachers the research findings indicate
that there are no statistically significant differences between them (U = 2.89, p = .120
> 0.05) (Table 7). However, teachers indicate at lower levels that there are significant
differences between male and female students on Math’s performance, than the students
itself. As a result, whether the measurement comes from teacher or students, the
outcome is the same.

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Table 7 Mann-Whitney U Test comparing teachers and students on Gender differences
on Math anxiety

Mean Rank

Variable Teachers Students Mann- z p 

r z/ N 
Whitney U

Math anxiety 45 48,5 2.891,000 1,480 .12 .15

mean score

Discussion
Mathematics is a discipline studied almost all over the world. However,
research shows that some students don’t like to study the subject because they believe
it is difficult. The research complements pieces of the puzzle called MA, looking at this
phenomenon from the Primary Education’s point of view, where there is a gap in
literature. According to the study, the results strongly indicated that MA is an existing
phenomenon in children who attend Primary School, thus, pointing out the importance
of teaching Mathematics in a more organized manner. Additionally, the results of the
research showed, girls had higher MA than boys in 6th grade. This result is in line with
the result of Coronado-Hijón (2017), the MA being a significant factor, negatively
affecting overall students’ feeling. This emotional state appeared when students crossed
the line being comfortable with math (Cipora et al. 2015).

The findings are in agreement with the results of various studies which determined
significant differences in levels of MA according to gender, with the girls being more
vulnerable to the effects of MA (Griggs et al., 2013; Chang & Cho, 2013; Ferguson et
al., 2015; OECD, 2015; Foley et al., 2017; Van Mier, Schleepen & Van den Berg,
2019). However, these findings contradict the findings of Puteh and Khalin (2016) who
found no significant differences among gender. Due to the fact that MA negatively
impacts math tasks, the education system must develop effective strategies to
strengthen the self-esteem of students.

Furthermore, a negative significant relationship found between positive and negative

feelings, therefore, the higher the positive feelings of the respondents, the lower their

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negative feelings are. Those findings show that the perceptions of both genders are
correlated fact that confirms the findings of Foley et al. (2017). Finally, the research
tried to test whether there are significant differences on the perceptions of teachers and
students about math’s anxiety and the findings indicated that they perceived similarly
the performance of male and female students on math’s anxiety. These findings
contradict the statement of Chang and Cho (2013), who suggest that teachers tend to
see minor or small differences between boys and girls on math’s performance, due to
their attitude to treat students on the same way.

Conclusion
In conclusion, the importance of the current research lies on proving that male
and female students perceive differently math as a learning subject, fact that can lead
on the development of new supporting actions on helping the performance of students
and reducing the impact of a potential anxiety source.
The research indicates that there are significant differences between male and female
students regarding the levels of math’s anxiety, while there are no differences between
students and teachers about the same issue. As a result, both students and teachers
recognize the fact that girls present higher levels of math’s anxiety. This recognition
can help the responsible educational manager to create alternative educational programs
on the specific topic.

In addition, since it seems that females have higher MA than males, appropriate
approaches should be deployed focusing on the characteristics of the students and their
learning needs. Moreover, studies should be focused on interventions to minimize MA.
Finally, additional research should be undertaken on MA’s nature in order to find out
MA’s origins and its effects on other aspects such as performance. To summarize, MA
is reality for 6th graders, especially for girls. Teachers should be paid more attention to
different learning styles in order to support learning of both genders but they need to
pay much more attention on making girls feel more secure and in that way to reduce
their math’s anxiety.

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References

Marshall, E. M., Staddon, R. V., Wilson, D. A., & Mann, V. E. (2017). Addressing
maths anxiety and engaging students with maths within the curriculum. MSOR
Connections, 15(3).

Marušić, I., & Matić, J. (2017). The role of personality, self-concept and defensive
motivation in predicting maths anxiety. Stress and Anxiety: Coping and Resilience, 95-
103.

Wilson, S. (2017). Maths Anxiety: The Nature and Consequences of Shame in

Mathematics Classrooms. Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia.

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