Math self-efficacy, not emotional self-efficacy, mediates the math anxiety-performance relationship in undergraduate students

Abstract

A clear inverse relationship exists between efficacy and anxiety and anxiety and performance in mathematics. However, efficacy is domain- and task-specific, so the role that specific types of efficacy play in the anxiety-performance relationship is less clear. Emotional self-efficacy moderates this relationship in children, but research has not yet examined its role with math anxiety and performance in undergraduate students who have more developed emotional regulation. Further, understanding the role of self-efficacy for different tasks (i.e., efficacy for math versus for emotion regulation) is important to understanding math anxiety and how to intervene for math anxious individuals. Therefore, the purpose of the current study was to explore the moderating and/or mediating role of both math self-efficacy and emotional self-efficacy in undergraduate students using indirect effects analyses. One hundred and fifteen students at a mid-sized state university in the Midwest United States completed self-report measures of emotional self-efficacy, math self-efficacy, and math anxiety before completing a standardized measure of math performance. Results of indirect effects analyses determined that math self-efficacy had an indirect effect on the anxiety-performance relationship while emotional self-efficacy had neither indirect nor moderating effects on the math anxiety-performance relationship.

How mathematical dispositions of adult learners play a role in their STEM choices

“…Math anxiety can begin as early as preschool for some students but becomes more common in elementary school and can continue through middle‐, high‐, and post‐secondary schools and professional settings (Barroso et al., 2021). A strong negative relationship exists between math anxiety and math performance (Foley et al., 2017), due to some combination of decreased cognitive resources (Ashcraft & Moore, 2009) and math anxiety's inverse relationship with math self‐efficacy (Jameson et al., 2022; Palestro & Jameson, 2020; Skaalvik et al., 2015). Jameson and Fusco's (2014) work comparing adult learners and traditional undergraduate students showed an increase in math anxiety as students' age increased; Stacey (2023), however, did not find a difference in math anxiety levels between traditional and adult learners.…”

“…Students with high levels of self‐efficacy in mathematics are likely to put in higher levels of effort and persistence, experience higher levels of motivation, and have increased performance (Skaalvik et al., 2015). Self‐efficacy in mathematics is also a strong mediator in the relationship between anxiety and performance (Jameson et al., 2022; Palestro & Jameson, 2020), suggesting that highly math‐anxious students with high math self‐efficacy do not experience the typical performance deficits seen in highly math‐anxious students. Adult learners typically report lower levels of math self‐efficacy than traditional students (Cho & Kongo, 2023; Jameson, 2020; Jameson & Fusco, 2014).…”

The Mediating Effects of Specific Types of Self-Efficacy on the Relationship between Math Anxiety and Performance

“…Math self-efficacy is one's confidence in their ability to successfully complete a specific math task [42]. This type of self-efficacy is consistently negatively related to math anxiety and performance, meaning that students low in math self-efficacy often experience high math anxiety and low math performance [43][44][45][46][47]. Selfefficacy in mathematics has such a heavy impact on individuals that it often influences major decisions in their lives such as which college major to choose and which career path they take [48,49].…”

“…Selfefficacy in mathematics has such a heavy impact on individuals that it often influences major decisions in their lives such as which college major to choose and which career path they take [48,49]. Because individuals with high math anxiety are less likely to have high math self-efficacy [43][44][45][46][47], other types of self-efficacy may play an important role.…”

“…Another type of self-efficacy that may mediate the emotional component of math anxiety is emotional self-efficacy, or an individual's perceived confidence in their ability to identify and regulate their emotions [44,47]. Individuals with low emotional self-efficacy often experience symptoms of depression and anxiety, whereas highly efficacious individuals are less likely to experience negative emotionality [44,50,51].…”