Editorial: Mathematical and statistics anxiety: Educational, social, developmental and cognitive perspectives

Mathematical anxiety (MA) is a feeling of apprehension and fear related to mathematics (e.g., Ashcraft, 2002). High levels of MA have serious implications for a person’s life prospects, as they can lead to an avoidance of elective maths courses, which, in turn, affects people’s career opportunities (e.g., Hembree, 1990). The societal importance of MA is also underlined by the fact that, according to the latest report of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, on average 30.6% of adolescents get very nervous when they have to do maths problems (OECD, 2013). Research in this area has shown an exponential growth in recent years, with the number of papers dealing with MA increasing from 60 in the year 2000 to 330 papers published in 2015 (based on Scopus statistics accessed on 20/06/2016). Over half of these papers have reported research carried out in North America, mostly in the United States, whereas less than 20% of this work was conducted in Europe. The majority of these papers appeared in educational journals, with a smaller proportion published in cognitive or developmental journals, and even fewer in neuroscience journals or in specialist journals on emotion or stress. Against this backdrop, it is easier to see the contribution of this collection of papers to the literature. Most of the contributors are from European countries, and many papers deal with relatively less-investigated issues, including the relationship between MA and social influences, the measurement of MA, the physiological correlates of MA, and MA outside the classroom. The Topic also includes a number of review papers that, besides summarizing existing findings, highlight some important gaps in our current knowledge and make recommendations for future investigations. Finally, some papers present methodological innovations.