The relationship of sex role stereotyping and sex role identification to math anxiety

The problem. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship, if any, of sex role stereotyping and sex role identification to math anxiety.;Method. A correlational study was conducted by administering three tests to 152 student volunteers from graduate psychology classes at a small, private southern California university. The Fennema-Sherman Math Attitude Scale subscale of Math as a Male Domain was used to measure sex role stereotyping. The Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI) was used to measure sex role identification. The Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale (MARS) was used to measure math anxiety. The data were analyzed using Pearson product moment correlations, multiple regression analysis, and two-tailed t tests.;Results. A significant positive correlation between sex role stereotyping and math anxiety was found. The computed correlation between sex role identification and math anxiety was not significant. No significant relationship among the variables of sex role stereotyping, sex role identification and math anxiety was found. Males and females differed significantly in their attitudes concerning the appropriateness of math as a field of study for women, with male subjects being more likely to see math as a male domain. Male and female subjects differed significantly in their sex role identification, with males tending to have a more masculine sex role identification and females tending to have a more feminine sex role identification. A relationship between age and math anxiety existed such that the higher the subject's age, the higher the subject's math anxiety tended to be. Older and younger subjects were not found to differ in their attitudes concerning math as an appropriate field of study for women.