Attitude Towards Mathematics and the Dimensions of Mathematics Anxiety: Do These Variables Differ Across Levels of Gender of Students, Family Income and Parent’s Educational Level

Authors:

Ashoka Choudhury , Dr. Vinod Kumar Murti

Pages: 22-30

Abstract:

Mathematics anxiety has warranted a great deal of research in the context of learning processes, classroom behavior and

mathematics achievement, as well as exploration of possible effects of variable- attitude towards mathematics on mathematics

anxiety Empirical studies are necessitated to explore how determinants like gender, family income and parent’s educational

level of students in higher education in India differ. The objective of this paper is to find whether there are significant differences

of the determinants such as gender, family income and parent’s educational level of the college students in India to attitude

towards mathematics and bi-dimensional nature of mathematics anxiety. Two hundred forty students of higher education

institutes in India (male-120, female-120) from diverse socio-economic background were randomly selected. The levels of the

dependent variables – attitude towards mathematics, cognitive dimension of mathematics anxiety and the affective dimension of

mathematics anxiety were determined. A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was conducted to determine whether

multiple levels of the independent variables (gender, family income, and parent’s educational level) on its own or in conjunction

with one another influenced the dependent variables (attitude towards mathematics, cognitive dimension and affective

dimension of mathematics anxiety).Data was collected (online) by using a survey form. The participants were selected by

random sampling method from the students in higher education in India. The findings revealed that the independent variables family

income, parental educational qualifications and gender have non- significant difference to attitude towards mathematics,

affective mathematics anxiety and cognitive mathematics anxiety.