How Math Anxiety and Math Performance are linked? An Investigation under Various Theories at School Level

Abstract

Math anxiety (MA) is considered the sign of declination of math performance (MP) of students. However, the reasons behind this are still uncertain. The objective of the current state of the art review research was to inspect the connection between MA and MP under various factors and theories at the school level. A total of 158 full-text studies were chosen by ensuring the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Moderation studies revealed that the link between MA and MP was changed differently depending on the complexity of mathematical assignments, the dimensions of MA, and the impacts on students’ grades. MA evaluated with affective and cognitive dimensions under various theories indicated an adverse relationship with MP. When MA is associated with fundamental mathematical activities, advanced mathematical tasks that demand multiple steps to solve revealed a higher adverse relationship with math anxiety. Furthermore, practical and theoretical aspects of the findings of the study are also discussed.