Effects of math anxiety and perfectionism on timed versus untimed math testing in mathematically gifted sixth graders

Abstract

This study was designed to examine the effects of math anxiety and perfectionism on math performance, under timed testing conditions, among mathematically gifted sixth graders. We found that participants had worse math performance during timed versus untimed testing, but this difference was statistically significant only when the timed condition preceded the untimed condition. We also found that children with higher levels of either math anxiety or perfectionism had a smaller performance discrepancy during timed versus untimed testing, relative to children with lower levels of math anxiety or perfectionism. There were no statistically significant gender differences in overall test performance, nor in levels of math anxiety or perfectionism; however, the difference between performance on timed and untimed math testing was statistically significant for girls, but not for boys. Implications for educators are discussed.Most school-based performance measures are administered with a time limit (Dreyden & Gallagher, 1989). Timed math performance is often worse than untimed math performance (Kellogg, Hopko, & Ashcraft, 1999), even among gifted students (Dreyden & Gallagher). This may be because of insufficient time to complete all test problems or because the timed testing is sufficiently anxiety-provoking to hinder performance. It is important to assess the possible effects of math anxiety on performance, because high math anxiety may lead students to avoid math (Hembree, 1990) by choosing not to enroll in advanced (Ashcraft, 2002) or elective math courses (Ashcraft & Kirk, 2001). Math avoidance may ultimately affect whether a person decides against a math-related college major and subsequent career choices (Ashcraft).Although it may appear as common sense that mathematically gifted children experience little if any math anxiety when solving math problems, there is little empirical evidence to either support or refute this notion (Lupkowski & Schumacker, 1991). Dreger and Aiken (1957) suggest that math anxiety occurs even among students gifted in mathematics. Gifted children are often described as perfectionistic (Parker, 1997); but it is unknown whether perfectionism enhances or exacerbates math performance, and whether effects of perfectionism interact with level of math anxiety among mathematically competent individuals. The present study was designed to explore the possible relationship between math anxiety and perfectionism on math performance during timed versus untimed testing conditions in mathematically gifted children. Our interest was not the child's performance level, but whether there was a discrepancy in math performance accuracy during timed versus untimed testing, and whether this discrepancy is influenced by math anxiety or perfectionism. Math AnxietyMath anxiety is one of the nonintellectual factors that affects a child's performance on mathematics. Richardson and Suinn (1972) Nicoletti & Spinelli, 1972;Suinn, Taylor, & Edwards, 1988). For example, Kellogg et al. (1999) assessed math performan...

Math anxiety and its relationship with basic arithmetic skills among primary school children

“…Further, ‘concern over mistakes’ has also been seen as a dimension of perfectionism (Frost, Marten, Lahart, & Rosenblate, ), which is also present among gifted students (Parker, ) and may, at least in its lighter forms, even stimulate healthy needs for achievement (Parker, ; see also Wang et al ., ). However, it has been shown that among gifted students, concern over mistakes is also positively correlated with math anxiety (Tsui & Mazzocco, ).…”

Anxiety and Reading Difficulties in Early Elementary School: Evidence for Unidirectional- or Bi-Directional Relations?

“…Also pertinent to the harm avoidance scale, children in this study who reported a high desire to do things “exactly right” and please/obey others may have been motivated to work extra hard on the fluency/timed tasks since they were individually administered by an adult who asked the child to “read as best as you can”. Indeed, previous research has found better accuracy among gifted children with perfectionistic-like behaviors on timed (but not untimed) tasks [57] suggesting a motivating role for such feelings.…”

Is Math Anxiety Always Bad for Math Learning? The Role of Math Motivation

“…Therefore, given that these complex cognitive functions are crucial to mathematical processing (Ashcraft, 2002), it is plausible that a quadratic curvilinear relation between math performance and specific anxiety about math would be observed. Two previous studies have provided some preliminary evidence suggesting facilitative effects of moderate levels of MA on math performance in adults and mathematically gifted children (Evans, 2000; Tsui & Mazzocco, 2006). Thus, the first aim of the current study was to examine whether math performance varies as a quadratic curvilinear function of MA in a normal-achieving student population.…”