The influence of sex on the relations among spatial ability, math anxiety and math performance

Elsevier

Available online 13 November 2022, 100196

Trends in Neuroscience and EducationAbstractBackground

A large body of research has found stronger math anxiety in females and suggests that inferior spatial abilities (or attributes towards spatial abilities) in females compared to males are the origin of sex differences in math anxiety.

Purpose

To fully explore the complex relationship among math anxiety, spatial abilities, math performance and sex differences, the current study examined spatial skills, working memory skills, math anxiety, and self-efficacy as predictors of math performance.

Basic procedures

Participating in the study were 89 undergraduate Israeli students (44 males and 45 females).

Main findings

The result showed sex differences in a few domains: MA was higher in females compared to males, males outperformed females in number line performance and spatial skills. The relationships among spatial abilities, math performance, and math anxiety were stronger in males than in females. By contrast, the relationship between math self-efficacy and performance was stronger in females compared to males.

Conclusions

This finding demonstrated fundamental differences between the sexes, even with similar performances in curriculum-based assessments.

Keywords

math anxiety

self-efficacy

sex differences

mental rotation

visuospatial working memory

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