Math anxiety assessment in early elementary school students

Given the prevalence of mathematics anxiety (MA) and its detrimental long-term impact on academic performance and career opportunities, it is essential to develop instruments that can be used to identify MA as early as possible. Some previous studies with young children (Harari, Vukovic, & Bailey, 2013; Krinzinger, Kaufmann, & Willmes, 2009; Ramirez, Gunderson, Levine, & Beilock, 2013) have highlighted that initial signs of MA may emerge as early as 6 years of age (Aarnos & Perkkilä, 2012). The current study aimed at presenting a new instrument, the Mathematics Anxiety Scale for Early Elementary School Students (MAS-EESS), a 9-item scale to assess mathematics anxiety in young children. The psychometric properties of the scale have been analyzed, taking into account its dimensionality, reliability, and validity. Additionally, the invariance of the scale was measured for gender and language (i.e., Italian and English). Finally, the MAS-EESS is a multiinformant assessment of children’s math anxiety that takes into account parent’s and teacher’s ratings. The consistency of the scale and items across the self-report, teacher and parent versions facilitate the comparison of information between sources and offers a more precise evaluation of mathematics anxiety in young children