Mathematics education
Do girls feel more math anxiety than they report in class?
Open access · cc by · source: Europe PMC
Girls said they were generally more anxious about maths than boys, but not during actual lessons, and the gap between general and in-the-moment anxiety was bigger for girls who believed maths is a male domain.
Study at a glance
- Design
- Other — Observational diary (experience-sampling) study: one trait questionnaire, then brief state-anxiety ratings after each maths lesson for 2-3 weeks, analysed with three-level multilevel models
- N
- N=755 · 755 students from 42 classes, contributing 6207 lesson diary entries
- Population
- Grade 9 and 10 students in the academic (Gymnasium) track in Germany
- Outcome
- Trait-state discrepancy in math anxiety, predicted by math self-concept and endorsement of the stereotype that maths is a male domain
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Key findings
Girls reported slightly higher trait anxiety than boys (a small effect, d = -0.12), but there was no gender difference in state anxiety during lessons. Girls showed a significant gap between trait and state anxiety while boys did not. Higher self-concept shrank this gap for both genders; stronger stereotype endorsement widened it for girls, and tended to shrink it for boys, and for girls it still mattered after accounting for self-concept.
Methodology
Students first completed a questionnaire on their general (trait) maths anxiety, maths self-concept and agreement with the statement that maths is a male domain. Over the next 2-3 weeks, they rated how anxious they felt right after each maths lesson (state anxiety), using items worded in parallel. Multilevel models tested whether self-concept and stereotype endorsement predicted how much trait anxiety exceeded state anxiety, separately for girls and boys.
Limitations
The study is correlational, so it cannot show that stereotype beliefs cause girls to overestimate their anxiety; the authors note self-concept and stereotypes may influence each other in either direction. Stereotype endorsement was measured with one blunt item, and both anxiety measures are self-reports rather than physiological or behavioural data. The sample was only high-track German 9th and 10th graders, and the trait gender difference was small.
How this study connects
Role on claims
Each row is a claim on a concept or method page where this paper supports, challenges, or qualifies the statement. Roles are hand-checked — not a model guess.
Girls' general reports of maths anxiety may overstate what they feel in actual lessons, and beliefs shape that gap.
German ninth and tenth graders' general (trait) maths anxiety exceeded the anxiety they reported right after lessons for girls but not boys; higher maths self-concept narrowed this gap for both, and endorsing the 'maths is male' stereotype widened it for girls.
Evidence for the claim as stated.
Girls' general reports of maths anxiety may overstate what they feel in actual lessons, and beliefs shape that gap.
German ninth and tenth graders' general (trait) maths anxiety exceeded the anxiety they reported right after lessons for girls but not boys; higher maths self-concept narrowed this gap for both, and endorsing the 'maths is male' stereotype widened it for girls.
Scope note — observational diary study of high-track students; stereotype measured with a single item
Limits the claim's scope: a different population, assay, or outcome.
Stereotypes seem to work through girls' expectations and self-views rather than directly.
Maths gender stereotypes are linked to lower motivation for girls: in Spanish schoolgirls stereotypes predicted lower STEM choice mainly through lower expectations of success, and in German teenagers stereotype endorsement widened girls' gap between general and in-lesson maths anxiety.
Evidence for the claim as stated.
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