Numeracy and Health Numeracy Among Chinese and Kenyan Immigrants to Canada: Role of Math Self-Efficacy

Abstract

Mathematics self-efficacy plays an important role in the performance of quantitative tasks. The objective of this study was to examine the role of mathematics self-efficacy in numeracy and health numeracy among immigrants (60 Mandarin-speaking and 60 Kikuyu-speaking immigrants to Canada) for whom English was a second language (ESL). Two French Kit numeracy tasks (the addition, and the addition and subtraction correction tasks) constituted objective measures of numeracy, and the numeracy component of a health literacy instrument (The Short Test of Functional Health Literacy for Adults [S-TOFHLA]) constituted the health numeracy measure. We measured math self-efficacy using the Mathematics Self-Efficacy Scale (MSES) and the Subjective Numeracy Scale (SNS). All measures were presented in English. Kikuyu speakers had lower math self-efficacy (p