Comparative study on mathematical anxiety among students from Costa Rica and Spain

Abstract

Mathematical anxiety is one of the affective reactions that have the most significant influence on students' performance. This affective construct negatively influences factors such as academic performance, gender, and the choice of the degree. Earlier studies concluded that there are students in Costa Rica and Spain who suffer from mathematical anxiety; so this article, derived from a research project, deeply analyzes the phenomenon and compares its presence in university students from the National University of Costa Rica and the University of Granada in Spain, and specifies this comparison observing what happens in each country in relation to gender differences and the choice of the degree program. A Likert scale was used to collect the information, which even allowed grouping the data into three categories: mathematical anxiety when facing problems, mathematical anxiety at the moment of exams, and mathematical anxiety in general. In this last category are included situations while teaching mathematics classes. The research is quantitative. The analysis implemented a factorial design in which the measures of mathematical anxiety and its sub-constructs act as dependent variables, and the nationality of the students, sex, and type of career students are enrolled in are the factors considered in the said design. The research revealed that the students of both countries showed similar behaviors concerning their mathematical anxiety. Besides, both in Costa Rica and in Spain, the students with a greater quantity of mathematics courses showed mathematical anxiety, mathematical anxiety when facing problems, mathematical anxiety at the moment of exams, and mathematical anxiety in general, significantly less than the rest of students. We did not find statistically significant differences based on gender in the country; this evidenced that, in both countries, it is accepted that women show higher mathematical anxiety when facing problems, mathematical anxiety at the moment of exams, and mathematical anxiety in general than men. We also found a significant positive correlation between the dependent variables.