Inconclusive prospective effects between math anxiety and performance: A reanalysis and comment on Pelegrina et al. (2025)

Recently, Pelegrina et al. concluded, after conducting a meta-analysis, reciprocal prospective effects between math anxiety and math performance. However, it is well established that adjusted cross-lagged effects are susceptible to spurious findings. Here, we reanalyzed the meta-analytic data and found discrepant decreasing, increasing, and null prospective effects between math anxiety and performance and meta-analytic aggregations of these discrepant effects did not differ significantly from zero. Hence, the conclusion by Pelegrina et al. may be challenged. It is important for researchers to be aware that correlations, including cross-lagged effects, may be spurious in order not to overinterpret findings, something that may have happened to Pelegrina et al. We recommend researchers to fit alternative models to their data and to base conclusions on an aggregation of findings.