Cognition, Brain, Behavior.

An Interdisciplinary Journal
Copyright © 2010 Romanian Association for Cognitive Science. All rights reserved.
ISSN: 1224-8398
Volume XIV, No. 4 (December), 333-345

GENDER AND THE DIFFERENTIAL EFFECTS OF

ACTIVE AND PASSIVE PERFECTIONISM ON
MATHEMATICS ANXIETY AND WRITING ANXIETY
Kathleen A. MOORE *
Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Australia

ABSTRACT
In this study gender differences in mathematics anxiety and writing anxiety as a
function of high school students’ levels of active and passive perfectionism are
examined. Results for 307 year 10 students revealed main effects for gender and
passive perfectionism with respect to mathematics anxiety and to writing anxiety.
Girls had higher mathematics anxiety than boys. Students with higher levels of
passive perfectionism had higher mathematics anxiety and higher writing anxiety
than students with lower levels of passive perfectionism. An interaction between
gender and active perfectionism showed that among girls, mathematics anxiety
decreased as a function of increased active perfectionism. This interaction effect was
not present for writing anxiety. This latter finding challenges previous conclusions
that perfectionism is inherently, and exclusively, maladaptive.

KEYWORDS: passive perfectionism, active perfectionism, mathematics

anxiety, writing anxiety.

*
Corresponding author:
E-mail: Kate.moore@cdu.edu.au
334 K. A. Moore

Many students experience affective reactions to particular school content that is

severe enough to interfere with academic functioning (Newbegin & Owens, 1996;
Seipp, 1991; Van Ameringen, Mancini, & Farvolden, 2003; Zeidner, 1991). Several
studies have found that girls tend to experience greater levels of academic-related
anxieties than do boys (e.g., Balozlu & Kocak, 2006; Bhansali & Trivendi, 2008;
Ma & Xu, 2004; Otomo, 1998). It is important to understand why some students
experience such debilitating anxiety at school, and to identify factors that may be
particular targets for intervention into this phenomenon, in order to help students to
maximize their school achievement.
One factor that has been proposed to explain why some people experience
heightened levels of anxiety is perfectionism (Hewitt & Flett, 1991; Kawamura,
Hunt, Frost, & DiBartolo, 2001; Saboonchi & Lundh, 1997; Tsui & Mozzocco,
2007). In educational research, perfectionism has been linked to mathematics-
related anxieties (Tsui & Mozzocco, 2007), including statistics anxiety
(Onwuegbuzie & Daley, 1999), however research on the effects of perfectionism on
anxiety in non-science subjects, such as language or literary studies involving
writing skills is scant (but see Onwuegbuzie, 1998).
Contrary to traditional conceptualisations of perfectionism (e.g., Burns,
1980; Hewitt & Flett, 1991), where perfectionism has been viewed exclusively as a
maladaptive characteristic, Adkins and Parker (1996) suggested that perfectionism
is not always maladaptive. Adkins and Parker argued that it is only one form of
perfectionism which they termed ‘passive’ perfectionism, that is maladaptive, while
a second form, ‘active’ perfectionism, can in fact be adaptive. To this author’s
knowledge, the idea that perfectionism can be adaptive has not been empirically
tested within the discipline of educational psychology. The contribution of the
current paper is to assess whether the active form of perfectionism can temper the
effects of debilitating school-related anxieties.

Anxiety and Academic Functioning

Beck (1985) defined anxiety as “the unpleasant feeling state evoked when fear is
stimulated” (p. 9). For several decades the literature has reported that anxiety
towards certain academic subjects – and most notably mathematics – is common
among students of all ages. Johnson (1979) estimated that up to 30 % of students
experience academic-related anxiety at a level severe enough to debilitate
performance; while Richardson and Suinn (1972) reported that over one-third of
students attending a University counseling service indicated that their main problem
related to mathematics anxiety.
Over the past half a century, a plethora of correlational studies have
reported negative relationships in the order of r=-.50 between mathematics anxiety
and mathematics performance indicators, such as mathematics grades and scores on

Cognition, Brain, Behavior. An Interdisciplinary Journal

14 (2010) 333-345
 K. A. Moore 335

standardised mathematics tests (e.g., Ashcraft & Kirk, 2001; Cooper & Robinson,
1991; Dew, Galassi, & Galassi, 1983; Dreger & Aiken, 1957; Fennema & Sherman,
1976; Meece, Wigfield, & Eccles, 1990). Later studies, such as Pajares and Miller
(1994), Pajares and Graham (1999) and Rouxel (2001) have used path analysis to
attribute a causal link from mathematics anxiety to poor performance in
mathematics, citing path coefficients in the order of β=-.40 from mathematics
anxiety to mathematics grades.
Some studies have revealed significantly higher levels of mathematics
anxiety among girls than boys (e.g., Dew et al., 1983; Flessati & Jamieson, 1991;
Gallagher & Kaufman, 2005; Otomo, 1998), while others (e.g., Cooper &
Robinson, 1991; Joannon-Bellows, 1997; Pajares & Graham, 1999; Tapia & Marsh,
2004) have failed to support such a gender difference. The further evaluation of
possible gender differences in mathematics anxiety, particularly in the Australian
context, is highly relevant, as the enrolment of girls in senior level non-compulsory
mathematics has increased substantially in Australia during recent years.
A more limited body of research has focused on the relationship between
writing anxiety and writing performance indicators, such as essay grades or
performance in standardised language tests, but with equivocal results. For
instance, Pajares and Johnson (1996) reported a correlation between English essay
writing scores and writing anxiety of r=-.48, while earlier work by Daly and Miller
(1975) failed to find any relationship between writing anxiety and writing
performance using the SAT verbal score as their performance measure. While it
simply might be that anxiety is not as detrimental to performance in writing as it is
in mathematics, where in the latter case test items can frequently be assessed as
either objectively ‘right’ or ‘wrong’, it might also be that methodological
differences between studies in respect to the often subjective measurement of
writing performance have contributed to the equivocal results.
For instance, Daly and Miller (1975) used a standardised measure (the
SAT verbal score) as an indicator of writing performance, while Pajares and
Johnson (1996) used more subjective essay assessments as their writing
performance measure. This type of inconsistency in performance measurement is
less usual in the mathematics context as the assessment of performance in
mathematics relies almost without exception on standardised test scores or final
grades. No gender differences in writing anxiety have been reported (Cunningham
& Holmes, 1995; Pajares, Miller, & Johnson, 1999; Scott & Rockwell, 1997),
although too few studies have been published for this finding to be considered
conclusive.
Since anxiety is clearly related to poor performance in mathematics, and
possibly in writing performance, it is important to understand the factors that might
influence levels of these anxieties in order to inform teaching and counseling
practices aimed at reducing students’ anxiety, and improving school achievement.
One factor that has been proposed to influence levels of anxiety is perfectionism.

Cognition, Brain, Behavior. An Interdisciplinary Journal

14 (2010) 333-345
336 K. A. Moore

The following section reviews the literature with respect to the conceptualization of
perfectionism, and its relation with anxiety.

Perfectionism and Academic Related Anxiety

Some empirical research has demonstrated that perfectionism is positively related

to anxiety in both writing (Frost & Marten, 1990) and in mathematics
(Onwuegbuzie & Daley, 1999). The demonstration of a positive relationship
between perfectionism and anxiety is not surprising, considering that
perfectionism, like anxiety, has long been viewed as problematic, pathological and
maladaptive (Burns, 1980; Hewitt & Flett, 1991). Burns (1980) defined
perfectionists as “those whose standards are high beyond reach or reason…who
measure their own worth entirely in terms of productivity and
accomplishment…[and]…who strain…towards impossible goals” (p.34). Pacht
(1984) argued that perfectionists are constantly “striving for nonexistent perfection
that keeps people in turmoil” (p. 386).
In accordance with the idea that perfectionism brings unpleasant
consequences, Arthur and Hayward (1997), Hayward and Arthur (1998), Brown,
Heimberg, Frost, Makris, Juster, and Leung (1999) and Einstein, Lovibond, and
Gaston (2000) have all demonstrated that perfectionism is associated with anxiety
in classroom settings. More particularly, in relation to writing anxiety and
mathematics anxiety, Frost and Marten (1990) reported that perfectionistic
students displayed greater writing anxiety than nonperfectionistic students while
Onwuegbuzie and Daley (1999) reported that statistics anxiety was associated with
higher levels of perfectionism.
Parker and Stumpf (1995) observed that despite theory and research linking
perfectionism exclusively to maladaptive functioning, this link does not lead to the
inexorable conclusion that perfectionism is inherently destructive. For instance,
Frost, Marten, Lahart, and Rosenblate (1990) have argued that perfectionism is
multidimensional and, while some components of perfectionism are aligned with
maladaptive functioning, others are aligned with adaptive functioning. Taking Frost
et al.’s position further, Adkins and Parker (1996) proposed two dimensions of
perfectionism that they termed active perfectionism and passive perfectionism.
These two components of perfectionism are not two ends of a continuum, but are
two conceptually distinct and independent forms of perfectionism. Adkins and
Parker argued that passive perfectionism is associated with bad outcomes and is
characterized by concern over mistakes and doubts over actions, while active
perfectionism is associated with good outcomes and is characterized by high
personal standards, organization, and favorable perceptions of both parental
expectations and parental criticism. Consistent with their proposal of active
perfectionism as an adaptive characteristic, Adkins and Parker defined active

Cognition, Brain, Behavior. An Interdisciplinary Journal

14 (2010) 333-345
 K. A. Moore 337

perfectionism as the motivation to succeed which spurs achievement. Consistent

with their proposal of passive perfectionism as maladaptive, they defined passive
perfectionism as the fear of failure and procrastination that creates impediments to
action (see also Pfeiffer, Buchwald, Malsch, & Torwesten, 2009).
The aim in the current study is to assess gender differences in the impact of
active perfectionism and passive perfectionism on mathematics anxiety and on
writing anxiety. Consistent with Adkins and Parker’s (1996) proposed effects of
active and passive perfectionism it is hypothesized that students with high levels of
active perfectionism will have lower levels of mathematics anxiety and writing
anxiety than students with low levels of active perfectionism. Further, it is
hypothesized that students with high levels of passive perfectionism will have
higher levels of mathematics anxiety and writing anxiety than students with low
levels of passive perfectionism.
As the literature pertaining to gender differences has been equivocal with
respect to both mathematics anxiety and writing anxiety, gender differences will be
explored, as will the interactions between gender and the perfectionism
components.

METHOD

Participants and Procedure

Three hundred and seven Australian year 10 high school students participated in the
study. Students completed a series of anonymous questionnaires, detailed below, in
single sittings during the third term (September) of their year 10 studies.
Eighty-seven students were from co-educational schools (28%) and 220
were from single-sex schools. There were 158 males (52%) and 149 females (Mean
age = 16 years, SD = 5 months).

Materials

Students were asked to indicate their gender and age and to complete the following
three questionnaires:
The Writing Apprehension Test (revised, Pajares & Valiante, 1997) is a
ten-item scale designed to measure writing anxiety. The scale was adapted from
Daly and Miller’s (1975) original 26-item Writing Apprehension Test. The revised
Writing Apprehension Test is scored on a five-point Likert scale where 1 = ‘not at
all’ and 5 = very much’. There are four positively worded items (e.g., “I look
forward to writing down my ideas”) and six negatively worded items (e.g., “I’m
nervous about writing”). Positively worded items are reverse scored so that a high
score indicates high writing anxiety. Pajares and Valiante (1997) reported a

Cognition, Brain, Behavior. An Interdisciplinary Journal

14 (2010) 333-345
338 K. A. Moore

unifactorial solution with all items loading on this factor >.45. A high level of
internal consistency of the scale scores has been reported for elementary (primary)
students (α=.83), and high school students (α=.93) (Pajares & Johnson, 1996).
The Fennema-Sherman Mathematics Anxiety Scale (Fennema & Sherman,
1976) is a stand-alone subscale of the Fennema-Sherman Mathematics Attitudes
Scale designed for use with high-school students. This 10-item instrument is
intended to assess “feelings of anxiety, dread, nervousness and associated bodily
functions related to doing mathematics”. Items are answered on a five-point Likert
scale where 1 = ‘not at all’ and 5 = ‘very much’. There are five positively worded
items (e.g., “I have usually been at ease during maths courses”) and five negatively
worded items (e.g., “Mathematics makes me feel uneasy and confused”). Positive
items are reverse-scored so higher scores indicate higher mathematics anxiety.
Frary and Ling (1983) reported a one-factor solution that explained 89 % of the
variance in scores on the scale. Dew et al. (1983) reported that internal consistency
of the scale scores was acceptable across a combined gender sample (α=.72), for
males alone (α=.74) and for females alone (α=.74). Construct validity of the scale
scores has been indicated by correlations with Richardson and Suinn’s (1972)
Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale (r=-.68) and with the Sandman Anxiety Toward
Mathematics Scale (r=-.79) (Dew et al., 1983). Fennema and Sherman (1976) and
Betz (1978) each reported split-half reliabilities for the scale scores of r=.89 and
r=.92 respectively. Dew et al. reported two-week test-re-test reliabilities of r=.87 for
a combined gender sample, r=.88 for males and r=.86 for females.
The Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (Frost et al., 1990) is a 35-item
scale designed to measure dispositional perfectionism. The scale yields six subscale
scores: Personal Standards (PS) (e.g., “I have extremely high goals”), Parental
Expectations (PE) (e.g., “My parents set very high standards for me”), Parental
Criticism (PC) (e.g., “My parents never tried to understand my mistakes”), Concern
Over Mistakes (CM) (e.g., “If I fail at school, I am a failure as a person”), Doubts
Over Actions (DA) (e.g., “I usually have doubts about simple everyday things I
do”) and Organization (O) (e.g., “I am an organized person”). Items are scored on a
five-point Likert scale where 1 = ‘strongly disagree’ and 5 = ‘strongly agree’.
According to Lynd-Stevenson and Hearne (1999), scores are summated across
subscales PS, PE and PC to gain an overall score for active perfectionism, where a
high score indicates a high level of active perfectionism; while summated scores for
the CM and DA subscales yield an overall score for passive perfectionism, where a
high score indicates a high level of passive perfectionism. Lynd-Stevenson and
Hearne reported that Cronbach’s alpha co-efficients of the MPS subscales ranged
from .77 to .90.

Cognition, Brain, Behavior. An Interdisciplinary Journal

14 (2010) 333-345
 K. A. Moore 339

RESULTS

The mean score for mathematics anxiety was 27.27 (SD = 7.66) in a range of 10 to
50. The mean score for writing anxiety was 26.83 (SD = 6.85) in a range of 10 to
50. The mean score for active perfectionism was 39.58 (SD = 6.32) in a range of 14
to 66. The mean score for passive perfectionism was 24.82 (SD = 5.74) in a range
of 10 to 45.
Data for the two perfectionism components were then grouped into ‘high’
or ‘low’ groups based on median splits. For active perfectionism, those scoring
above 40 were grouped as high and those scoring 40 or below were grouped as low.
For passive perfectionism, those scoring above 25 were grouped as high and those
scoring 25 or below were grouped as low.
A 2x2x2 factorial multivariate analysis of variance was performed to assess
differences in mathematics anxiety and writing anxiety as a function of gender,
level of active perfectionism (high / low) and level of passive perfectionism (high /
low). The custom model specified main effects of gender, active perfectionism and
passive perfectionism as well as two-way interaction effects of gender x active
perfectionism and gender x passive perfectionism.
There were no within-cell univariate outliers on any of the dependent
variables and all within-cell distributions approximated normality. Box’s M
revealed that the assumption of multivariate normality had been met (F = .684,
p>.05).

Multivariate Tests

Multivariate main effects of gender (Pillai’s F2295 = 2.82, p<.05) and of level of
passive perfectionism (Pillai’s F2295 = 2.71, p<.05) were present across the
combined dependent variables. There was no multivariate main effect of level of
active perfectionism (Pillai’s F2295= .33, p>.05).
In addition, Pillai’s criteria revealed a multivariate interaction effect
between gender and level of active perfectionism (F2295 =2.68, p<.05) but not
between gender and level of passive perfectionism (F 2295= 1.45, p>.05) for scores
on the combined dependent variables.

Univariate Tests: Main Effects

Gender
There was a main effect of gender on levels of mathematics anxiety (F1296 = 5.41,
p<.05). Females had higher mathematics anxiety than males (females: M = 29.28,
SD = 3.66; males: M = 26.42, SD = 3.54). There was no main effect of gender on
writing anxiety (F1296 = .041, p>.05).

Cognition, Brain, Behavior. An Interdisciplinary Journal

14 (2010) 333-345
340 K. A. Moore

Passive perfectionism

There were main effects for passive perfectionism on mathematics anxiety

(F1299 = 5.91, p<.05) and on writing anxiety (F1299 = 5.14, p<.05) (see Table 1)
where students with higher levels of passive perfectionism reported higher
mathematics anxiety and higher writing anxiety than students with lower levels of
passive perfectionism.
There were no main effects for active perfectionism on either mathematics
anxiety (F 1299 = 1.86, p>.05) or writing anxiety (F 1299 = .33, p>05).

Table 1
Mean Anxiety Scores as a Function of Passive Perfectionism

Low passive High passive F2299 p

perfectionism perfectionism
M SD M SD
Mathematics anxiety 26.01 3.38 29.52 3.03 5.91 <.001
Writing anxiety 25.66 3.22 28.27 3.32 5.14 <.001

Univariate Tests: Interaction Effects

Gender and active perfectionism

There was an interaction effect of gender and active perfectionism with respect to
mathematics anxiety (F2299 = 6.78, p<.05) (see Figure 1). Mathematics anxiety
remained fairly constant across the two levels of active perfectionism for males.
Females who scored high on active perfectionism scored similarly on mathematics
anxiety to males while those females low on active perfectionism scored higher on
mathematics anxiety to both females high on active perfectionism and higher pf
mathematics anxiety than all males.
There was no interaction effect of gender and active perfectionism on
writing anxiety (F2299 =.31, p>.05).

Cognition, Brain, Behavior. An Interdisciplinary Journal

14 (2010) 333-345
 K. A. Moore 341

Figure 1
Differences in levels of mathematics anxiety as a function of the interaction between gender and
active perfectionism

DISCUSSION

In accordance with traditional conceptualisations of perfectionism as a maladaptive

trait, the current results indicated that students with higher levels of passive
perfectionism had both higher mathematics anxiety and higher writing anxiety than
their counterparts with lower passive perfectionism. In this sample, students with
greater doubts over their own actions and greater concern about their mistakes were
more anxious in both mathematics and in writing. Evidently higher degrees of
passive perfectionism leave students in a position of uncertainty with respect to the
execution of mathematics (e.g., Mathematics makes me feel uneasy and confused)
and writing tasks (e.g., I do not look forward to writing down my ideas), as well as
making students upset about the poor execution of mathematics and writing tasks.
While these results are cross-sectional, they may indicate that passive
perfectionism contributes to a self-fulfilling prophecy of uncertainty and self-doubt
with respect to mathematics and writing. While longitudinal studies are required to
assess the temporal implications of passive perfectionism in relation to academic
performance, the current results suggest that it is important to identify students who

Cognition, Brain, Behavior. An Interdisciplinary Journal

14 (2010) 333-345
342 K. A. Moore

harbor passive perfectionistic thinking and to address ways in which this type of
thinking can be tempered.
In the current study, a novel approach was to differentiate between active
and passive perfectionism, in order to test the hypothesis that active perfectionism
would have a positive effect in reducing levels of mathematics anxiety and writing
anxiety compared with the detrimental effects observed for passive perfectionism.
While no main effect of active perfectionism was observed on either mathematics
anxiety or writing anxiety, there was a significant interaction effect between gender
and active perfectionism with respect to mathematics anxiety. For males,
mathematics anxiety remained constant across levels of active perfectionism and a
similar level of mathematics anxiety was evident for girls and boys with high levels
of active perfectionism. Yet for girls with low levels of active perfectionism,
mathematics anxiety increased, and was significantly higher than among boys with
low levels of active perfectionism. In other words, where girls demonstrated
decreased levels of personal and perceived parental standards, they also
demonstrated greater anxiety with regard to mathematics, relative to boys with
similarly low levels of personal and perceived parental standards.
Aside from the significant interaction effect, and the main effect for levels
of passive perfectionism, there was also a main effect of gender on mathematics
anxiety in the current data. This finding is in line with previous studies (e.g., Dew et
al., 1983; Flessati & Jamieson, 1991; Otomo, 1998), where girls were more anxious
than boys with respect to mathematics. This gender difference in mathematics
anxiety was observed despite an increased enrollment of girls within non-
compulsory specialist mathematics in Australia in recent years. Evidently
mathematics anxiety is not dissuading girls from taking non-compulsory specialist
mathematics subjects. The current data do however reinforce the importance of
addressing girls’ mathematics anxiety if their study of mathematics is to be an
enjoyable and rewarding experience.
There was no gender difference in the current data with respect to levels of
writing anxiety, a finding congruent with the work of Pajares et al. (1999) and Scott
and Rockwell (1997). Nevertheless, as the current results add only to a small
literature base, these results require further replication in more diverse samples both
in Australia and overseas to provide a more integrated and conclusive body of
literature.
In summary, the current findings that passive perfectionism was associated
with increased levels of mathematics anxiety and writing anxiety are in line with the
traditional notion that perfectionism is a maladaptive characteristic. While other
individual differences and external contingencies undoubtedly play a role in school
achievement, and while counseling aimed at restructuring students’ perfectionistic
thinking is not likely to be a panacea for poor performance, the differential gender
effect reported in this study, with regard to active perfectionism and mathematics
anxiety, challenges previous conclusions that perfectionism is inherently

Cognition, Brain, Behavior. An Interdisciplinary Journal

14 (2010) 333-345
 K. A. Moore 343

maladaptive. In the current data, low levels of active perfectionism were

maladaptive, at least for girls, while high levels of active perfectionism can be
considered to be adaptive for both boys and girls. Students’ long term engagement
in compulsory writing subjects versus girls more recent engagement in mathematics
subjects which are elective as well as gender stereotypical attitudes might explain
why this interaction effect was present for mathematics and not writing anxiety.
Future research and practice should be concerned with developing strategies to
nurture active perfectionism among female students who now form such a large
proportion of the student body studying mathematics.

REFERENCES

Adkins, K. K., & Parker, W. D. (1996). Perfectionism and suicidal preoccupation. Journal of
Personality, 64, 529-543.
Arthur, L., & Hayward, N. (1997). The relationships between perfectionism, standards for
academic achievement, and emotional distress in post-secondary students. Journal
of College Student Development, 38, 622-632.
Ashcraft, M. A., & E. P. Kirk. (2001). The relationships among working memory, math
anxiety, and performance. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 130,
224-237.
Balozlu, M., & Kocak, R. (2006). A multivariate investigation of the differences in
mathematics anxiety. Personality & Individual Differences, 40, 1325-1335.
Bhansali, R., & Trivedi. K. (2008). Is academic anxiety gender specific: A comparative
study. Journal of Social Science, 17, 1-3.
Beck, A. T. (1985). Theoretical perspectives on clinical anxiety. In A. H. Tuma, Hussain &
J. D. Maser (Eds.), Anxiety and the anxiety disorder. Hillsdale, NJ, England:
Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Betz, N. (1978). Prevalence, distribution, and correlates of math anxiety in college students.
Journal of Counseling Psychology, 25, 441-448.
Brown, E., Heimberg, R., Frost, R., Makris, G., Juster, H., & Leung, A. (1999). Relationship
of perfectionism to affect, expectations, attributions and performance in the
classroom. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 18, 98-120.
Burns, D. D. (1980). The perfectionist's script for self-defeat. Psychology Today, 13, 34-51.
Cooper, S., & Robinson, D. (1991). The relationship of mathematics self-efficacy beliefs to
mathematics anxiety and performance. Measurement and Evaluation in Counseling
and Development, 24, 4-11.
Cunningham, S., & Holmes, G. (1995). Writing anxiety in computer science students.
Working Paper 95/25. Department of Computer Science, University of Waikato.
Daly, J., & Miller, M. (1975). Further studies in writing apprehension: SAT scores, success
expectations, willingness to take advanced courses, and sex differences. Research
in the Teaching of English, 9, 250-256.
Dew, K., Galassi, J., & Galassi, M. (1983). Mathematics anxiety: Some basic issues. Journal
of Counseling Psychology, 30, 443-446.

Cognition, Brain, Behavior. An Interdisciplinary Journal

14 (2010) 333-345
344 K. A. Moore

Dreger, R., & Aiken, L. (1957). The identification of number anxiety in a college population.
Journal of Educational Psychology, 48, 344-351.
Einstein, D., Lovibond, P., & Gaston, J. (2000). Relationship between perfectionism and
emotional symptoms in an adolescent sample. Australian Journal of Psychology,
52, 89-93.
Fennema, E., & Sherman, J. (1976). Fennema-Sherman Mathematics Attitude Scales:
Instruments designed to measure attitudes toward the learning of mathematics by
females and males. JSAS Catalogue of Selected Documents in Psychology, 6, 31.
(Ms. No. 1225).
Flessati, S., & Jamieson, J. (1991). Gender differences in mathematics anxiety: An artifact of
response bias? Anxiety-Research, 3, 303-312.
Frary, R., & Ling, J. (1983). A factor-analytic study of mathematics anxiety. Educational
and Psychological Measurement, 43, 985-993.
Frost, R., & Marten, P. (1990). Perfectionism and evaluative threat. Cognitive Therapy and
Research, 14, 559-572.
Frost, R., Marten, P., Laharte, C., & Rosenblate, R. (1990). The dimensions of
perfectionism. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 14, 449-468.
Gallagher, A., & Kaufman, J. (2005). Gender Differences in Mathematics: An Integrative
Psychological Approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hayward, L., & Arthur, N. (1998). Perfectionism and post-secondary students. Canadian
Journal of Counselling, 32, 187-199.
Hewitt, P., & Flett, G. (1991). Perfectionism in the self and social contexts:
Conceptualization, assessment, and association with psychopathology. Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology, 60, 456-470.
Joannon-Bellows, F. (1997). The relationship between high school mathematics teachers'
leadership behavior and students' mathematics anxiety. Dissertation Abstracts
International Section A: Humanities and Social Sciences, 58, 1629.
Johnson, B. (1979). Assessing reading attitudes: what can teachers do? In T. Bessell, E.
Browne, R. Gardiner, & N. Reeves (Eds.), Reading into the 80's: Papers presented
at the fifth Australian Reading Conference, Perth, August 1979, pp. 115-123.
Kawamura, K., Hunt, S., Frost, R., & DiBartolo, P. (2001). Perfectionism, anxiety, and
depression: Are the relationships independent? Cognitive Therapy and Research,
25, 291-301.
Lynd-Stevenson, R. M., & Hearne, C. M. (1999). Perfectionism and depressive affect: The
pros and cons of being a perfectionist. Personality and Individual Differences, 26,
549-562.
Ma, X., & Xu, J. (2004). The causal ordering of mathematics anxiety and mathematics
achievement: A longitudinal panel analysis. Journal of Adolescence, 27, 165-179.
Meece, J., Wigfield, A., & Eccles, J. (1990). Predictors of math anxiety and its influence on
young adolescents' course enrollment intentions and performance in mathematics.
Journal of Educational Psychology, 82, 60-70.
Newbegin, I., & Owens, A. (1996). Self-esteem and anxiety in secondary school
achievement. Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, 11, 521-530.
Onwuegbuzie, A. (1998). The relationship between writing anxiety and learning styles
among graduate students. Journal of College Student Development, 39, 589-598.

Cognition, Brain, Behavior. An Interdisciplinary Journal

14 (2010) 333-345
 K. A. Moore 345

Onwuegbuzie, A., & Daley, C. (1999). Perfectionism and statistics anxiety. Personality and
Individual Differences, 26, 1089-1102.
Otomo, Y. (1998). The relationship of computer anxiety, mathematics anxiety, trait anxiety,
test anxiety, gender, and demographic characteristics among community college
students. Dissertation Abstracts International Section A: Humanities and Social
Sciences, 59, 1957.
Pacht, A. R. (1984). Reflections on perfection. American Psychologist, 39, 386-390.
Pajares, F., & Graham, L. (1999). Self-efficacy, motivation constructs, and mathematics
performance of entering middle school students. Contemporary Educational
Psychology, 24, 124-139.
Pajares, F., & Johnson, M. (1996). Self-efficacy beliefs and the writing performance of
entering high school students. Psychology in the Schools, 33, 163-175.
Pajares, F., & Miller, M. (1994). Role of self-efficacy and self-concept beliefs in
mathematical problem solving: A path analysis. Journal of Educational
Psychology, 86, 193-203.
Pajares, F., & Valiante, G. (1997). Influence of self-efficacy on elementary students' writing.
Journal of Educational Research, 90, 353-360.
Pajares, F., Miller, M., & Johnson, M. (1999). Gender differences in writing self-beliefs of
elementary school students. Journal of Educational Psychology, 91, 50-61.
Parker, W. D., & Stumpf, H. (1995). An examination of the Multidimensional Perfectionism
Scale with a sample of academically talented children. Journal of
Psychoeducational Assessment, 13, 372-383.
Pfeiffer, S., Buchwald, P., Malsch, V., & Torwesten, C. (2009). Procrastination and test
anxiety at school. Paper presented at the 30th International Conference of the Stress
and Anxiety Research Society, Budapest, Hungary, July 16-18.
Richardson, F., & Suinn, R. (1972). The Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale: Psychometric
data. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 67, 840-846.
Rouxel, G. (2001). Cognitive–affective determinants of performance in mathematics and
verbal domains: Gender differences. Learning & Individual Differences, 12, 387-
310
Saboonchi, F., & Lundh, L. (1997) Perfectionism, self-consciousness and anxiety.
Personality and Individual Differences, 22, 921-928.
Scott, C., & Rockwell, S. (1997). The effect of communication, writing, and technology
apprehension on likelihood to use new communication technologies.
Communication Education, 46, 44-62.
Seipp, B. (1991). Anxiety and academic performance: A meta-analysis of findings. Anxiety
Research, 4, 27-41.
Tapia, M., & Marsh, G. E. (2004). The relationship of math anxiety and gender. Academic
Exchange Quarterly, 8, 130-134.
Tsui, J., & Mozzocco, M. (2007). Effects of math anxiety and perfectionism on timed versus
untimed math testing in mathematically gifted sixth graders. Roeper Review,
January.
Van Ameringen, M., Mancini, C., & Farvolden, P. (2003). The impact of anxiety disorders
on educational achievement. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 17, 561-571.
Zeidner, M. (1991). Statistics and mathematics anxiety in social science students: some
interesting parallels. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 61, 319-328.

Cognition, Brain, Behavior. An Interdisciplinary Journal

14 (2010) 333-345
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.