A study of mathematics anxiety exhibited by senior high school students

In order to assess the significance of mathematics anxiety in an educational setting, it has become important to determine the extent to which anxiety is associated with various mathematical backgrounds of students. One area of interest is the determination of the relationship between the amount of secondary level mathematics courses taken by high school seniors and the levels of mathematics anxiety as measured by the Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale (MARs). Therefore, it was the purpose of this study to test the following hypotheses:

There is no significant relationship between the number of mathematics courses taken by high school seniors and their levels of mathematics anxiety.

2. The mathematics anxiety level of students taking more mathematics courses in high school is not lower than the mathematics anxiety level of students not taking as many mathematics courses.

The population for this study consisted of students from the l978 senior class at Franklin County High School, Winchester, Tennessee. I All students were classified according to the number of years and types of mathematics courses studied through their senior year. Random selections from each of these categories yielded samples totaling 15l students.

To test the hypotheses, the Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale scores were analyzed by a one-way analysis of

number of mathematics courses taken, and the score on the Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale was the dependent variable. Duncan's Multiple Range Test was used to compare the means. A Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient was also calculated to assess the degree of relationship between mathematics anxiety and the number of years of mathematics studied in high school.

The correlation coefficient between the number of years of high school mathematics and mathematics anxiety was found to be significant at the 0.05 level (r = -0.32). The results of the analysis of variance and Duncan's Multiple Range Test showed a significant difference in the level of mathematics anxiety experienced by students taking four years of mathematics and those students taking General Mathematics, or Algebra I, or a combination of General Mathematics and Algebra I.

This study was significant in that it revealed a a relationship between the number of mathematics courses taken by high school seniors and their levels of mathematics anxiety. A significant relationship existed in the mathematics anxiety scores between students who had taken only one year of high school mathematics (either General Mathematics or Algebra I) and those who had taken four

iv years of mathematics. Also, this study showed that there was an inverse relationship between mathematics anxiety scores, as measured by the MArs, and the number of years a student takes high school mathematics. Mathematics anxiety scores did decline as the number of years of mathematics enrollment increased.