ArticleNPJ science of learning2021
First-year students' math anxiety predicts STEM avoidance and underperformance throughout university, independently of math ability.
Article in NPJ science of learning, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 40 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
40 citing papers in PubMed, 134 citations in OpenAlex.
- Initial Evidence of Mathematics Interpretation Bias Intervention Effects on College Students' Mathematics Anxiety.Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · 2026Trial
- The relation of spatial skills, spatial memory span, and two anxiety types with statistics anxiety in European and North American University students.The British journal of educational psychology · 2026Article
- "I can do math!": A self-regulated learning intervention to enhance math-related motivational factors and performance in middle school.The British journal of educational psychology · 2026Article
- General and Specific Facets of Anxiety: Psychometric Analysis and Impact on Cognitive Performance.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Anxiety and Performance in High-Achieving Adolescents: Associations Among 8 General and Specific Anxiety Measures and 13 School Grades.PsyCh journal · 2026Article
- The Impact of Math Attitudes and Gender in Future School Choice: A Longitudinal Study Among Italian Students.Journal of Intelligence · 2026Article
- Cognitive and Affective-Emotional Factors in Math Achievement: The Mediating Role of Intelligence.Journal of Intelligence · 2026Article
- Testing whether paralinguistic cues alter math learning in highly math anxious adults.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Assessing mathematics anxiety with the AMAS: Measurement invariance across four countries.PloS one · 2026Article
- Brief moderate-intensity cycling, momentary nervousness, and mathematics performance in young adults.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- The role of Self Determination Theory and positive classroom experiences in students' mathematics outcomes.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- The impact of the mathematical adversity quotient on preparatory students' mathematics learning engagement: moderated mediation effect analysis.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Assessing academic anxiety in d/Deaf, DeafBlind, and hard of hearing individuals.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Effectiveness of a cognitively grounded mathematics intervention in a high school blended learning environment: achievement gains, implementation fidelity, and demographic variability.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- The dual structure of anxiety: reconciling general and specific approaches.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Supporting quantitative skills in biomedical science with smart worksheets: intentions, impact and barriers to engagement.British journal of biomedical science · 2026Article
- Self-regulated learning in STEM: non-academics matter.Journal of microbiology & biology education · 2025Article
- Math anxiety and arithmetic learning: Evidence for impaired procedural learning and enhanced retrieval learning.Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition · 2025Article
- Supporting Mental Health Among STEM Students: The REDFLAGS Model.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- More Than Just Anxiety: Math Attitudes as Key Driver of University Choice.Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Math anxiety is widely considered a potential barrier to success in STEM. Current thinking holds that math anxiety is directly linked to avoidance of and underperformance in STEM domains. However, past evidence supporting these claims is limited in important ways. Perhaps most crucially, it is possible that math anxiety predicts STEM outcomes merely as a proxy for poor math skills. Here, we tested the link between math anxiety and subsequent STEM outcomes by measuring math anxiety, math ability, and several covariates in 183 first-semester university students. We then tracked students' STEM avoidance and achievement through four years at university via official academic transcripts. Results showed that math anxiety predicted both a reduction in how many STEM courses students took and, separately (i.e., controlling for one another), lower STEM grades. Crucially, these associations held after controlling for math ability (and other covariates). That math anxiety predicts math-related academic achievement independently of Math Ability suggests that, contrary to current thinking, math anxiety's effects on academic performance likely operate via mechanisms other than negatively affecting math ability. Beyond this, we show evidence that math anxiety can account for associations between math ability and STEM outcomes, suggesting that past links between math ability and real-world outcomes may, in fact, be at least partially explainable by attitudes toward math. These findings provide clear impetus for developing and testing interventions that target math anxiety specifically and suggest that focusing on math ability without additional attention to math anxiety may fail to optimally boost STEM outcomes.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.