Link Between Math Anxiety and Mathematics Achievement in

Chinese Primary Schools

Jiaqi Liu

School of Environment, Education and Development, University of Manchester, M13 9PL, Manchester, U.K.

Keywords: Math Anxiety, Academic Achievement, Primary School.

Abstract: Math anxiety is a common issue among students, with around 70% of primary school students in China

affected. The present study study aims to explore the relationship between math anxiety and academic

performance in a sample of 158 primary school students in Shanxi, China. Using a survey on math exam

anxiety and students' math final scores. The study found a weak correlation (r=0.122) between math anxiety

and achievement. This research shows that while math anxiety can influence performance, other factors are

also involved. Both high and low-achieving students reported high levels of math anxiety. Contributing factors

include pressure from parents and teachers and students' own negative feelings toward math. The study is

limited by its small sample size and regional focus. Future research should examine more diverse groups of

students and consider other influences on math anxiety. Addressing math anxiety may help improve students'

confidence and performance in math.

1 INTRODUCTION

Math anxiety is currently a common problem at work.

One student has math anxiety among five around the

world (Yu, 2018). In China, there are around 70% of

students have math anxiety (Yu, 2018). The

cramming teaching method and exam-oriented

education make math class boring, and students lose

concentration and then miss significant knowledge.

The missing knowledge causes the student to have

low grades in math, and these students may be afraid

of math later, then they get math anxiety and form a

vicious circle (Yu, 2018). In Chinese society, many

people usually think girls have poorer math

achievement than boys, then girls are not confident in

math, and many of them have math anxiety. However,

they are good at math (Yu, 2018), and this problem

appears in primary school in China. Previous research

shows that math anxiety is highly related to academic

achievement; some state that math anxiety will lead

to poor achievement (Barroso et al., 2021) and one

prior study state that poor academic achievement

comes first and causes poor achievement (Barroso et

al., 2021; Pekrun, 2006). Therefore, finding the

correlation between math anxiety and academic

achievement is significant.

This research aims to find how math anxiety could

affect achievement. To carry out the research, this

study uses a quantitative research design to explore

the relationship between mathematics anxiety and

mathematics achievement among 158 primary school

students in Shanxi, China, selected through stratified

sampling. A pilot study ensured the clarity of the

questionnaire, and the final data were analysed using

SPSS to assess reliability and the correlation between

the two variables.

2 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Math Anxiety

Math anxiety refers to students' negative emotions

when working on math tasks, which can affect their

ability to do well in math (Ashcraft & Ridley, 2005).

This emotional response affects students'

performance and lowers their confidence and attitude

towards math, making it more difficult for them to

improve. The characteristics of math anxiety can be

broken down into four main dimensions: physical,

emotional, behavioural, and cognitive. Physically,

students with math anxiety may experience various

symptoms, such as a rapid heartbeat, sweaty palms,

or an overall feeling of nervousness when faced with

mathematical challenges (Sheffield & Hunt, 2006).

Emotionally, they often report negative feelings like

600

Liu, J.

Link Between Math Anxiety and Mathematics Achievement in Chinese Primary Schools.

DOI: 10.5220/0014147300004942

Paper published under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

In Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Applied Psychology and Marketing Management (APMM 2025), pages 600-604

ISBN: 978-989-758-791-7

a strong dislike for math, frustration, or a fear of

engaging in math-related activities (Ashcraft &

Ridley, 2005). Behaviourally, these students may try

to avoid math-related tasks or math classes altogether,

feeling overwhelmed by the pressure (Sheffield &

Hunt, 2006). They may also procrastinate when

completing math assignments, putting off tasks

because of the anxiety they associate with math

(Luttenberger et al., 2018). Cognitively, students with

math anxiety often struggle with negative self-

perceptions, believing that they are incapable of

solving or completing math problems. This mindset

can seriously hinder their performance and learning

outcomes (Sheffield & Hunt, 2006).

Many students in China have the problem of math

anxiety. According to Huang in China, because of the

increase in the difficulties in math from lower level to

higher level in Chinese primary schools, many

students found it hard to learn math (Huang, 2023).

Meanwhile, many students in primary school have

anxious feelings. The anxious feeling increases their

weariness in math, causing math anxiety. Moreover,

the degree of difficulty in math that Chinese primary

school students face is high worldwide; therefore,

students in China may more easily face math anxiety

(Yu, 2018). It is significant to solve this question

because there are 70% of Chinese school students

have math anxiety problems (Yu, 2018).

2.2 Factors Affecting Math Anxiety

The causes of math anxiety could mainly be divided

into two dimensions: external and internal. The

external factors mainly include social concepts,

teachers, and parents. According to Yu, many

Chinese people have stereotypes about gender; they

think girls are not good at mathematics (Yu, 2018).

Therefore, although female students have exemplary

mathematics achievements, they may also feel

unconfident in math. In contrast, the boy who is not

good at math may be looked down on by others. Both

can feel anxious under this stereotype's concepts. At

school, teachers usually transfer their anxiety to

students. During the teaching process, teachers may

feel anxious that students may not get good results on

an exam, and then they transfer this anxiety to

students (Lau et al., 2022; Smith, 2004). Moreover,

teachers get angry with students when students do not

understand the math problems, which harms students'

confidence and causes them to have math anxiety

(Smith, 2004). Many teachers think practice papers as

much as possible could help students get higher

scores in the actual examination, so they set too much

math homework for students (Yu, 2018). Students

feel anxious about the vast amount of practice. The

last factor about teachers that could cause math

anxiety is that they prefer students with higher grades.

According to Huang, teachers’ pay more attention to

students with higher grades and ignore the students

who perform less, and teachers rank the students

(Huang, 2023). Therefore, students who perform

worse in math may lose confidence and harm their

self-esteem, and then they have a sense of anxiety

about math. Parents also have high expectations of

their children, so they set extra work for their children

after they finish their school homework, which leads

their children to feel under pressure (Huang, 2023).

Math anxiety is often caused by internal factors

within the students themselves. According to Huang,

many Years 4 students in primary school develop a

fear of math and show resistance towards learning it

(Huang, 2023). This is often due to their negative

feelings or attitudes about the subject. Some students

dislike math initially, while others struggle with low

self-esteem and a lack of motivation to study it. Many

students also report that math is particularly

challenging for them, which makes the learning

process even more frustrating. Huang points out that

these issues are mainly related to poor academic

ability (Huang, 2023). When students find it hard to

understand concepts or solve problems, they doubt

their abilities and lose confidence.

2.3 Correlation Between Math Anxiety

and Academic Achievement

As Barroso et al. point out, math anxiety is closely

connected to academic achievement. Students who

experience high levels of math anxiety often perform

worse in mathematics (Barroso et al., 2021). Barroso

et al. explain that math anxiety interferes with

working memory, which is critical for solving math

problems (Barroso et al., 2021). When students feel

anxious about math, their working memory is

occupied by the anxiety, leaving fewer resources

available to focus on learning or solving problems.

This leads to lower performance in mathematics.

Similarly, Macleod and Mathews found that students

with math anxiety tended to focus more on their

negative emotions than on the math problem itself

(MacLeod & Mathews, 2012). This focus on anxiety

disrupts their ability to concentrate and further

impacts their math performance. In this way, math

anxiety makes individuals view math as a threat,

distracting their attention and taking up working

memory, making it harder for them to solve math

problems effectively.

Link Between Math Anxiety and Mathematics Achievement in Chinese Primary Schools

601

The relationship between math anxiety and

achievement is complex, and it is difficult to

determine which comes first. Some researchers

suggest that poor math achievement can lead to math

anxiety. According to Barroso et al., difficulties in

basic math skills can create negative experiences,

which may develop into anxiety during math tasks

(Barroso et al., 2021).

At the same time, other studies suggest that math

anxiety and math achievement influence each other in

both directions. Pekrun proposed the Control-Value

Theory of Achievement Emotions, which describes a

feedback loop between emotions and performance

(Pekrun, 2006). In mathematics, this means that high

math anxiety can lead to poor performance because

anxiety disrupts working memory. At the same time,

repeated poor performance can increase math anxiety,

creating a cycle where one issue reinforces the other.

Barroso et al. support this idea, showing that the

relationship between math anxiety and achievement

is bidirectional (Barroso et al., 2021).

While existing research indicates a bidirectional

relationship between math anxiety and math

achievement, the specific causal mechanisms for

Chinese primary school students remain unclear.

There is limited empirical evidence exploring how

math anxiety progressively impacts students' math

performance or whether low math achievement

gradually leads to higher levels of anxiety among

Chinese primary school students. This makes it

difficult to understand how these two factors

influence each other during this important stage of

education.

3 METHOD

This quantitative research uses the stratified sampling

method to find the result. The tool used is the

questionnaire. The students selected include those

from Year 4 to Year 6 in primary school in Shanxi,

China. Each grade contains similar amounts of

participants (Year 4=53; Year 5=53; Year 6=52).

Two scales will be used to collect the primary data.

One is the ‘Questionnaire on Mathematics Exam

Anxiety for Upper Elementary Students’ from Qin

(Qin, 2019); another variable is the students’ average

mathematics scores they get. This research will

combine the questions about both variables into one

questionnaire and spread the print-out to the primary

schools in Linfen, Shanxi, China.

The questionnaire on Mathematics Exam Anxiety

is from Qin (Qin, 2019). The full name of this

questionnaire is ‘Questionnaire on Mathematics

Exam Anxiety for Upper Elementary Students’. This

questionnaire contains 16 questions to test the anxiety

level among students. The questions are related to

students’ responses before, during, and after the

mathematics examinations. All items were scored

using four ratings (1= strongly disagree, 2=disagree,

3=agree, and 4= strongly agree), except question 4

and question 14 (1= strongly agree, 2=agree,

3=disagree, and 4= strongly disagree). The higher the

total score, the higher the mathematics anxiety

students have. The Cronbach’s Alpha of the

questionnaire is 0.840 (Qin, 2019), which is higher

than 0.8. This result could show that this

questionnaire has high internal consistency, then with

the high reliability. The correlation coefficient

between each dimension is 0.431-0.685, and the

correlation coefficient between dimension and total

score is 0.69-0.898, indicating that the questionnaire

has relatively good structural (Qin, 2019).

The method to determine students’ academic

achievement is asking for their math average score,

which includes a quiz and the final test they usually

take. Because for primary school students, the

average score is the rare way to reflect their

mathematics achievement, this research will show the

validity and reliability of this method in the results.

This research involves 158 participants who study

in primary schools in China, all from Shanxi Province.

The primary school system includes various grades

(including Year 1 to Year 6). This research includes

Year 4 to Year 6. The study uses the stratified

sampling method. The questionnaire is printed and

released to primary schools in Linfen, Shanxi, China.

Before the formal investigation, a pilot study was

conducted to ensure the procedure. The pilot study

involved 10 participants in Year 4 and was completed

on 24 December 2024. The pilot study aimed to

identify any questions that were unclear and difficult

to understand. After the pilot study, all 10 participants

reflected that there was no problem with the questions

on the questionnaire. Then, after the pilot study, a

formal investigation was conducted.

After collecting all data, SPSS analyses the data,

and the validity and reliability of the results will be

tested to ensure the data result is reliable and can be

analysed effectively. The reliability and will be

assessed by measuring the internal consistency using

Cronbach’s Alpha, which will be analysed through

SPSS. Moreover, the Pearson correlation coefficient

will be used to find the relationship between math

anxiety and mathematics achievement. Moreover,

this research will analyse the number of students

scoring 4 points on each question to investigate how

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math anxiety fundamentally impacts students'

achievement.

4 RESULTS

This research has collected 180 questionnaires, and

158 responses are effective. The Cronbach Alpha of

the questionnaire is equal to 0.833 (>0.8). Which

shows high reliability. The questionnaire also has

high validity because the KMO of it is 0.836 which is

higher than 0.8.

This research uses SPSS to analyse all 158

questionnaires, exploring the Pearson correlation

coefficient between the sum of the math anxiety score

and the average mathematics score (r=0.122) (Table

1). Although this result is positive, it still could not

represent a positive relationship because the

coefficient is near to zero, which shows a slightly

small relationship between math anxiety and average

score. Then it could be considered there is no obvious

relationship between the math anxiety and math

average score in this research.

Table 1. Pearson correlation between math anxiety score

and average mathematics score (n=158).

Math

Anxiet

Coefficient 0.122

Math

average score

p-value 0.106

Sam

le size 158

From the data collected, 59.49% (94) of students

reported feeling nervous when they saw their grades.

Additionally, 62.66% (99) expressed significant

worry about the release of their math exam results. A

further 55.70% (88) stated concerns about not

performing well on math tests, while 55.56% (153)

were anxious about disappointing their teachers with

their math scores. While participants also reported

anxiety in other areas, these four questions revealed

the highest levels of anxiety among respondents.

5 DISCUSSION

The analysis shows that math anxiety is associated

with academic achievement. However, compared to

results from other research, this study finds a weaker

relationship. This suggests that while math anxiety

may affect academic achievement, other factors could

also play a role.

The results show that students with higher math

anxiety often perform worse in mathematics. This

matches earlier research, which suggests that the

effect of math anxiety on performance can depend on

things like how students cope, teaching methods, or

the level of support they receive (Ashcraft & Kirk,

2001). Moreover, many students in this study

reported that their anxiety is from worrying about

exam grades, and this worry often leads to a lack of

focus when solving math problems (MacLeod &

Mathews, 2012). Additionally, some students were

anxious because they feared disappointing their

teachers and influencing their academic performance.

Therefore, it is reasonable to suggest that anxiety

about academic performance can contribute to poor

math achievement.

At the same time, the data also show that poor

academic performance could be a source of math

anxiety, as proposed by Pekrun (2006). However,

poor performance is not the only factor. The analysis

shows that some students with good grades also

experienced high levels of anxiety. External pressures,

such as high expectations from parents and teachers

or internal pressures students place on themselves,

could lead to math anxiety (Yu, 2018; Lau et al., 2022;

Smith, 2004).

In summary, this research provides evidence that

math anxiety is not limited to students with poor

academic performance; students with strong math

skills can also feel anxious. Moreover, poor academic

achievement is not solely caused by math anxiety.

Other factors, such as teaching methods, may also

play a role. Reducing students' anxiety about

mathematics is important to address the issue of poor

math achievement, but additional approaches—such

as improving teaching methods—should also be

considered.

This study has several limitations. First, the

questionnaire focused primarily on students' grades

and math performance without exploring other

potential sources of math anxiety, such as parental

expectations or societal influences (Yu, 2018; Lau et

al., 2022; Smith, 2004). Second, the sample size was

small and limited to a specific group, which reduced

the generalizability of the findings to a broader

population, such as all students in China.

Future research could avoid these limitations by

increasing the sample size and improving the

questionnaire to include various dimensions of

factors causing math anxiety and poor math

achievement. Moreover, further research could

conduct longitudinal studies to look at how math

anxiety and performance affect each other over time.

These studies could help to understand whether

Link Between Math Anxiety and Mathematics Achievement in Chinese Primary Schools

603

ongoing anxiety causes poor performance or if

repeated failures make anxiety worse.

6 CONCLUSION

In conclusion, there is a negative correlation between

math anxiety and average mathematics scores, but

this correlation is not strong. The finding shows that

math anxiety could affect academic achievement, but

it is not the only factor. Many students reported high

anxiety levels related to exams and the fear of

disappointing teachers, which aligns with previous

research indicating the influence of external pressures

on math anxiety. The results also revealed that math

anxiety was not limited to students with low grades;

high-performing students may also feel anxious due

to external and internal pressures.

However, there are also some limitations in this

research. Firstly, this research focuses on a small

sample focusing on one region, which reduces the

generalisability of this restricted research. It could

expand the sample size, include additional factors

causing math anxiety, and conduct longitudinal

studies to better understand the interplay between

anxiety and performance over time. Therefore,

further research could focus on improving teaching

methods, minimising external pressures on students

to help students feel more confident and perform

better in math.

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