Math Anxiety and Its Relations to Arithmetic Fluency and Number Processing: Evidence from Finnish, Finnish-Swedish, and Swedish Fourth-Grade Students

The negative relationship between math anxiety and mathematics performance is well established. However, factors such as how math anxiety is operationalized, the specific mathematical domain, gender, and cultural context may influence this relationship. Still, these factors have not been considered together and the results in primary school students have been inconsistent. Thus, this study aimed to investigate how math anxiety is related to arithmetic fluency and number processing in fourth-grade students across three cultural contexts (Finnish- and Swedish-speaking students from Finland and Swedish-speaking students from Sweden). In addition, we investigated the dimensionality of math anxiety (i.e., cognitive and affective dimensions) and gender differences in the level of and relations between math anxiety and mathematics performance. The sample included 1022 fourth-grade students (52.6% girls) from Finland and Sweden. The participants completed a survey measuring their math anxiety and a mathematics performance test (arithmetic fluency and number processing). Confirmatory factor analysis supported a two-dimensional math anxiety construct for the Finnish-speaking sample and a unidimensional math anxiety construct for the Swedish-speaking samples. The negative math anxiety–performance relationship was demonstrated in each sample, showing a slightly stronger association for arithmetic fluency than number processing. On average girls experienced higher levels of math anxiety and boys had better arithmetic fluency. The negative relationship between math anxiety and mathematics performance, especially for number processing, was stronger for boys. The results highlight the relationships between math anxiety and mathematics performance in fourth-grade students in Finland and Sweden. More research considering cultural (e.g., language) and gender differences is needed.