The Math Anxiety-Performance Link: A Global Phenomenon (Allen, Herts, Borgonovi, Guerrerio, Levine and Beilock)

Following up on last week’s post about the physical pain some students feel when anticipating a math class or math test, we thought we’d pass along another fascinating study—this one from earlier this year. A team of psychologists from the University of Chicago recently teamed up with the Paris-based Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development to explore the “global phenomenon” of math anxiety. Their results are very much in line with Dr. Nolting’s work and offer a fresh take on an issue that grows increasingly relevant with every passing year. We strongly encourage you to read the entire article (available here). 

The importance of this study—published in Current Directions in Psychological Science—cannot be overstated. As argued by the authors, math anxiety will only continue to grow in significance as multinational efforts steer entire generations toward STEM-based professions. This means that “the fear of apprehension about math" should be “considered when trying to increase math achievement, and in turn, STEM career success.” 

Among other key takeaways, the authors demonstrate that childhood development plays a major role in math anxiety and that parental units often pass down their own math aversion to their children. The article also cites studies that show how math anxiety negatively affects math performance by “depleting working memory resources.” These difficulties are prevalent in all countries around the world—including those that highly value math achievement (particularly those in East Asia). 

As for treating math anxiety, the authors suggest that “self-regulation, emotional control, and reappraisal of physiological threat responses hold promise.” 

Dr. Nolting recently used the information in this article while training faculty and students at Miami Dade College in Peer Assistant Learning (Tutoring). His own thoughts on how its findings can be used on college campuses and particularly tutoring centers are as follows: 

"PAL students (tutors) need to be sensitive to students with anxiety. Many STEM students have math anxiety, and tutors need to be able to provide suggestions on how to handle it. With this in mind, at Miami Dade, I taught PAL students about the two types of anxiety: emotional anxiety and worry anxiety. I trained them to help students with various anxiety reduction techniques (discussed in my Winning at Math textbook), as well as effective test-taking strategies. Students with extreme anxiety, of course, should be referred to a supervisor. Still, PAL students are capable of providing basic anxiety reduction techniques, test-taking strategies, and homework strategies even as they tutor students on content."

Again, we strongly recommend reading this entire study, which only confirms how important it is to equip math anxious students with the tools they need to overcome their struggles. 

For more, see: Current Directions in Psychological Science 2017, Vol. 25 (1) pages 52-58
Authors: Alana E. Foley, Julianna B. Herts, Francesca Borgonovi, Sonia Guerrerio, Susan C. Levine, and Sian L. Beilock. 

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