Predicting Mathematics Achievement in Secondary Education: The Role of Cognitive, Motivational, and Emotional Variables

Amanda Abín; José Carlos Núñez; Celestino Rodríguez; Marisol Cueli; Trinidad García; Pedro Rosário

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00876

Predicting Mathematics Achievement in Secondary Education: The Role of Cognitive, Motivational, and Emotional Variables

Front Psychol. 2020 May 26:11:876. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00876. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Amanda Abín¹, José Carlos Núñez^{1

2}, Celestino Rodríguez¹, Marisol Cueli¹, Trinidad García¹, Pedro Rosário³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology, Universidad de Oviedo, Oviedo, Spain.
² Facultad de Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades, Universidad Politécnica y Artística de Paraguay, Asunción, Paraguay.
³ Department of Applied Psychology, Escola de Psicologia, Universidade do Minho, Campus de Gualtar, Braga, Portugal.

Abstract

Academic achievement in general, and in mathematics in particular, is positively associated not only with cognitive abilities, but also with emotional and motivational skills. The objective of this study was to analyze the prediction strength of cognitive, motivational, and emotional variables in mathematics achievement throughout high school, considering students' gender and age. A large sample of 2,365 Spanish students from the 4 years of high school (12-16 years old) participated in the study. Students provided information about their intellectual skills, perceived competence in mathematics, perceived utility of mathematics, intrinsic interest in learning, mathematics anxiety, and their causal attributions (for failure and for success), and of their achievement in mathematics. Data showed differences according to gender and the school grade level. The motivational and affective variables did not seem to play an important role in this relationship as predicted in the current study. The results of this study are discussed in light of previous research.

Keywords: achievement motivation; anxiety; intellectual abilities; intrinsic motivation; mathematics achievement; perceived competence; perceived usefulness.