The Relationship Between the Mathematics Anxiety and Mathematics Achievement of Middle School Students: The Moderating Effect of Working Memory

TL;DR

This study explores how working memory affects the link between math anxiety and math performance in middle school students.

Contribution

It identifies visual working memory as a moderator that worsens the impact of math anxiety on achievement.

Findings

Math anxiety strongly predicts lower math achievement.

Visual working memory negatively moderates the relationship between math anxiety and achievement.

Verbal working memory positively predicts math achievement.

Abstract

To investigate the moderating role of working memory subcomponents in the relationship between mathematics anxiety and mathematics achievement among middle school students, this study selected 92 seventh-grade students (45 boys, 47 girls) from a middle school in Suzhou City. The Mathematics Anxiety Scale was used to assess mathematics anxiety levels, while the rotation span task, operation-letter span task, and Stroop task were employed to measure visual working memory, verbal working memory, and central executive system function, respectively. Midterm mathematics exam scores served as the indicator of mathematics achievement. Data were analyzed using correlation analysis and hierarchical regression analysis. The results showed that: (1) Mathematics anxiety was significantly negatively correlated with mathematics achievement (r = −0.61, p < 0.01) and had a significant negative predictive effect on mathematics achievement (β = −0.600, p < 0.001); (2) Mathematics anxiety was significantly negatively correlated with verbal working memory (r = −0.84, p < 0.01), visual working memory (r = −0.68, p < 0.01), and the central executive system (r = −0.49, p < 0.01), and it had a significant negative predictive effect on all three; (3) Verbal working memory had a significant positive predictive effect on mathematics achievement (β = 0.481, p < 0.01); (4) Moderating effect analysis indicated that visual working memory played a significant negative moderating role in the relationship between mathematics anxiety and mathematics achievement (β = −0.226, p = 0.017), whereas the moderating effects of verbal working memory and the central executive system were not significant. The research demonstrates that working memory subcomponents play specific roles in the pathway through which mathematics anxiety affects achievement. The resource-dependent nature of visual working memory may exacerbate competition for cognitive resources under anxious conditions, providing empirical evidence for interventions targeting individuals with high visual working memory capacity who experience mathematics anxiety.

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