Longitudinal Relationship Between Mathematical Anxiety And Mathematical Ability In Primary School Students:Moderating Effect Of Executive Function

Childhood is an important period for the development of math ability and a critical period for mastering math knowledge and forming comprehensive math ability.Math anxiety is an important non-cognitive factor affecting children’s math learning.According to the state-trait math anxiety model,math anxiety can be divided into trait and state math anxiety.There are three different explanations for the directionality of the relationship between math anxiety and math ability of primary school students: low ability theory,debilitating anxiety theory and reciprocity theory,which need to be further verified by empirical research.In the research on the mechanism of the influence of math anxiety on math ability of primary school students,most of them only explored the role of working memory in the executive function in the relationship between math anxiety and math ability,and the conclusions were inconsistent.What role it plays in the relationship is unclear.Therefore,this study conveniently selected494 primary school students(263 boys)from a primary school in Hangzhou,using the "Trait Math Anxiety Questionnaire(trait-MAQ)","State Math Anxiety Questionnaire(state-MAQ)","Basic Math Ability of Chinese Primary School Students Test scale" and "Yellow-Red test " measure children’s trait math anxiety,state math anxiety,math ability and executive function,so as to complete the following two research contents:Study 1 mainly examines the current level of mathematical anxiety in primary school students and its vertical relationship with mathematical ability.The results showed that:(1)the trait mathematics anxiety of primary school students was at a lower than average level,while the state mathematics anxiety was at a middle(first grade)and lower than average(third and fifth grades)level;Male students have higher trait math anxiety than female students,with fifth grade students having the lowest state math anxiety and first grade students having the highest.(2)After one semester,the trait mathematics anxiety of primary school students has increased,with the largest increase in third grade;and the state math anxiety of the boys in the first and fifth grades all decreased.(3)The state math anxiety of primary school students can predict the mathematical operation and logical space ability after 6 months,but the mathematical operation and logical space ability cannot predict the state math anxiety after 6 months.This result supports the debilitating anxiety model.Study 2 investigated the current situation and characteristics of primary school students’ executive function,and the moderating effects of working memory,inhibitory function and cognitive flexibility in the relationship between math anxiety and current and 6-month later math ability in primary school students’ executive function.The results showed that:(1)The fifth-grade students had the highest scores of executive functions and its components,while the first-grade students had the lowest scores,and the inhibitory control level of girls was higher than that of boys.(2)Executive function and inhibitory control play a moderating role in the relationship between state math anxiety and current mathematical operation ability of primary school students,that is,the better the executive function and inhibitory control of primary school students,the stronger the negative prediction of state math anxiety on current mathematical operation ability.(3)Inhibitory control plays a moderating role in the relationship between primary school students’ state math anxiety and mathematical operation ability after 6 months,that is,the better the inhibitory control of primary school students,the more negative prediction state math anxiety has on the mathematical operation ability after 6 months powerful.In summary,the math anxiety of primary school students can affect the math ability after 6 months,which supports the debilitating anxiety model;the better the inhibitory control,the greater the impact of state math anxiety on the mathematical operation ability of primary school students.