Malanchini, Margherita; Rimfeld, Kaili; Wang, Zhe; Petrill, Stephen A.; Tucker-Drob, Elliot M.; Plomin, Robert and Kovas, Yulia. 2020. Genetic factors underlie the association between anxiety, attitudes and performance in mathematics. Translational Psychiatry, 10, 12. ISSN 2158-3188 [Article]

Preview	Text Malanchini et al. (2019) Translational Psychiatry_ accepted prepublication copy.pdf - Accepted Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial. Download (2MB) | Preview
Preview	Text s41398-020-0711-3.pdf - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution. Download (1MB) | Preview
Preview	Text 41398_2020_711_MOESM1_ESM (1).pdf - Supplemental Material Available under License Creative Commons Attribution. Download (294kB) | Preview

Abstract or Description

Students struggling with mathematics anxiety (MA) tend to show lower levels of mathematics self-efficacy and interest as well as lower performance. The current study addresses: (1) how MA relates to different aspects of mathematics attitudes (self-efficacy and interest), ability (understanding numbers, problem solving ability, and approximate number sense) and achievement (exam scores); (2) to what extent these observed relations are explained by overlapping genetic and environmental factors; and (3) the role of general anxiety in accounting for these associations. The sample comprised 3,410 twin pairs aged 16-21 years, from the Twins Early Development Study. Negative associations of comparable strength emerged between MA and the two measures of mathematics attitudes, phenotypically (~ -.45) and genetically (~ -.70). Moderate negative phenotypic (~ -.35) and strong genetic (~ -.70) associations were observed between MA and measures of mathematics performance. The only exception was approximate number sense whose phenotypic (-.10) and genetic (-.31) relation with MA was weaker. Multivariate quantitative genetic analyses indicated that all mathematics related measures combined accounted for ~75% of the genetic variance in MA and ~20% of its environmental variance. Genetic effects were largely shared across all measures of mathematics anxiety, attitudes, abilities and achievement, with the exception of approximate number sense. This genetic overlap was not accounted for by general anxiety. These results have important implications for future genetic research concerned with identifying the genetic underpinnings of individual variation in mathematics-related traits, as well as for developmental research into how children select and modify their mathematics-related experiences partly based on their genetic predispositions.

Item Type:	Article
Identification Number (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-020-0711-3
Additional Information:	Y.K.’s work is supported by the Tomsk State University competitiveness improvement programme.
Keywords:	mathematics anxiety, self-efficacy, mathematics cognition, number sense, mathematics motivation
Departments, Centres and Research Units:	Psychology
Dates:	Date Event 18 August 2019 Accepted 21 January 2020 Published
Item ID:	26798
Date Deposited:	27 Aug 2019 09:23
Last Modified:	03 Aug 2021 18:06
Peer Reviewed:	Yes, this version has been peer-reviewed.
URI:	https://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/26798

View statistics for this item...

Edit Record (login required)