Anxiety about Mathematics and Reading in Preadolescents Is Domain-Specific

Delphine Sasanguie; Charlotte Larmuseau; Fien Depaepe; Brenda R J Jansen

doi:10.3390/jintelligence12020014

Anxiety about Mathematics and Reading in Preadolescents Is Domain-Specific

J Intell. 2024 Jan 29;12(2):14. doi: 10.3390/jintelligence12020014.

Authors

Delphine Sasanguie^{1

2}, Charlotte Larmuseau^{2

3}, Fien Depaepe^{2

3}, Brenda R J Jansen⁴

Affiliations

¹ Research Centre for Learning in Diversity, HOGENT, 9000 Ghent, Belgium.
² Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences@Kulak, KU Leuven, 8500 Kortrijk, Belgium.
³ ITEC, IMEC Research Group, KU Leuven, 8500 Kortrijk, Belgium.
⁴ Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, University of Amsterdam, 1018 WS Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Abstract

It was investigated whether test anxiety (TA), mathematics anxiety (MA), and reading anxiety (RA) can be traced back to some type of general academic anxiety or whether these are separable. A total of 776 fifth graders (M_age = 10.9 years) completed questionnaires on TA, MA, and RA, as well as a mathematics test. Also, mathematics and reading performance results from the National Tracking System were requested. The sample was randomly split into two halves. Confirmatory factor analyses showed that a three-factor model (factors: TA, MA, RA) had superior model fit compared with a one-factor model (factor: "Academic anxiety"), in both halves. The resulting anxiety factors were related to math performance measures using structural equation models. A scarcity of data on reading performance prevented the analysis of links between anxiety and reading performance. Anxiety-math performance relations were stronger for MA than for TA and MA. We concluded that TA, MA, and RA are separable constructs.

Keywords: math anxiety; math performance; reading anxiety; test anxiety.

Grants and funding

This research received no external funding.