Measuring Math Anxiety

Why not? 

Spending the last three years studying psychology at McGill has opened my eyes to the fascinating world of the human mind. I am constantly amazed by research findings and the profound implications that our fast-growing knowledge of the brain can have. I have noticed, however, that practice unfortunately lags far behind research. Many psychological symptoms and disorders that can be debilitating are well understood, yet the sufferers go on suffering. For example, current psychosocial/behavioural treatments for anxiety are 50-75% effective. Despite treatments being well developed, a very small number of individuals diagnosable with anxiety will ever enter treatment (Dirks, 2013). There are many possible reasons for this, but one of the most important is likely the silencing of the topic that results from the stigma that still surrounds “mental illness”.

A recent study examined the validity and reliability of a scale for anxiety in math (Jameson, 2013). In this study, math anxiety was defined as a feeling of tension that interfered with the ability to solve math problems, in both everyday and academic situations. The authors claim that math anxiety has often been overlooked in children due, in part, to lack of tools for measuring domain-specific anxiety in children. The exploratory study conducted by Jameson resulted in a three-factor solution: general math anxiety, math performance anxiety, and math error anxiety. The measure was tested on a developmentally appropriate sample, and proved to be a useful instrument for the assessment of math-related anxiety in young children.

With so much evidence about negative effects of anxiety, as well as a vast body of knowledge containing ways of alleviating anxiety — why wouldn’t we assess children for psychological problems such as anxiety, not only in math, but in all subjects? More efforts should be made to make terms previously seen as related to the mentally ill or disabled (e.g. depressed, inattentive) commonplace in our language. Making available (and regularly administering) tests designed to screen for various psychological concepts (e.g. anxiety, Big Five Personality Traits, impulsivity) is one potential way to go about doing this. By opening up discussion around the topic, and letting people know that it matters, I believe that we would be able to make great strides in both the assessment and treatment of psychological disorders.

References:

Dirks, M. (2013). Anxiety III. PSYC 412: Developmental Psychopathology. Lecture conducted from McGill University, Montreal, QC.

Jameson, M. M. (February 07, 2013). The Development and Validation of the Children’s Anxiety in Math Scale. Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment.