In order to test the assumption that mathematically talented students show little mathematics anxiety, students participating in an early entrance to college program for talented students were asked to complete the Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale. Results indicated that these talented students were less math anxious than most unselected college students. However, they were more math anxious than a group of college students majoring in physics. Females in the study showed a tendency to be more math anxious than males (d=-.32), although this finding was not significant. No relationship between level of mathematics anxiety and grades or math anxiety and Scholastic Aptitude Test - Mathematics scores was found for the group of subjects. However, when those relationships were examined for males alone, higher verbal scores and higher grades were associated with lower levels of mathematics anxiety. These relationships were not evident for females.
In a study investigating the effects of an early entrance to college program on self-esteem, students in the Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science (TAMS) completed the Adult Form of the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory (SEI) the week they began and again after one semester of participation in the program, a time period when the greatest changes in self-esteem would be anticipated. Overall differences between TAMS pretests and posttests were nonsignificant or negligible, indicating that the students' self-esteem did not change in a meaningful way during their first semester in the program. A number of items on the SEI showed significant changes, all in a negative direction. On the pretest, TAMS students did not differ significantly from subjects in SEI normative groups on any items. On the posttest, however, there were some differences in a negative direction. Observed changes in self-esteem may be attributed to the adjustment that all college freshmen experience when they leave home for the first time, as well as to changes in social comparisons.
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