The impact of math anxiety and self-efficacy in middle school STEM choices: A 3-year longitudinal study

IF 3.1 2区心理学 Q1 PSYCHOLOGY, EDUCATIONAL

British Journal of Educational Psychology Pub Date : 2024-07-08 DOI:10.1111/bjep.12707

Alessandro Cuder, Sandra Pellizzoni, Miriana Di Marco, Claudia Blason, Eleonora Doz, David Giofrè, Maria Chiara Passolunghi

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Introduction

In today's world, which is progressively oriented towards science and technology and facing a growing demand for skilled professionals, it becomes essential to identify the factors that encourage individuals to pursue careers in STEM fields (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). Previous research has shown that affective-motivational factors, math performance and gender influence STEM occupational and academic choices in adulthood. However, few studies examined how these factors may influence STEM choices as early as middle school. This study aims to assess how math anxiety, math self-efficacy, math performance and gender influence STEM school choices during middle school.

Methods

We longitudinally assessed a group of 109 students (Year 6) over three school years, with measurements taken on three different occasions.

Results

Findings indicated that individuals who made an STEM school choice experienced lower math anxiety, higher self-efficacy and math performance and were predominantly male. Furthermore, the results indicated that both math anxiety in Year 7 and self-efficacy in Year 6 made the most substantial unique contributions to the STEM school choice.

Conclusion

Math anxiety and math self-efficacy seem to be both crucial in influencing middle school students' STEM choices, offering new perspectives for early interventions aimed at promoting more informed school choices.

Abstract Image

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数学焦虑和自我效能对初中 STEM 选择的影响：为期三年的纵向研究。

导言：当今世界正逐步向科学和技术领域发展，对专业技术人才的需求日益增长，因此，确定鼓励个人从事 STEM（科学、技术、工程和数学）领域职业的因素至关重要。以往的研究表明，情感-动机因素、数学成绩和性别会影响成年后对 STEM 职业和学业的选择。然而，很少有研究探讨这些因素如何影响学生在初中阶段对 STEM 的选择。本研究旨在评估数学焦虑、数学自我效能感、数学成绩和性别如何影响初中阶段的 STEM 学校选择：方法：我们对 109 名学生（六年级）进行了纵向评估，历时三个学年，在三个不同的场合进行了测量：结果：研究结果表明，选择 STEM 学校的学生数学焦虑较低，自我效能感较高，数学成绩较好，且以男性为主。此外，结果表明，七年级的数学焦虑和六年级的自我效能感对 STEM 学校选择的独特贡献最大：结论：数学焦虑和数学自我效能感似乎都是影响初中生 STEM 选择的关键因素，这为早期干预提供了新的视角，旨在促进学生做出更明智的学校选择。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

British Journal of Educational Psychology PSYCHOLOGY, EDUCATIONAL-

CiteScore

7.70

自引率

2.70%

发文量

期刊介绍： The British Journal of Educational Psychology publishes original psychological research pertaining to education across all ages and educational levels including: - cognition - learning - motivation - literacy - numeracy and language - behaviour - social-emotional development - developmental difficulties linked to educational psychology or the psychology of education