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Department of Psychology

Research led by Dr Dénes Szűcs finds gender differences in mathematics anxiety

Research published this week in the journal Behavioral and Brain Functions reveals gender differences in the experience of mathematics anxiety (MA) in a group of British secondary school children.  The research, led by Dr Dénes Szűcs, measured both the mathematics performance of boys and girls and their levels of MA, while controlling for general test anxiety. The study found that although no gender differences were observed in mathematics performance, girls reported higher levels of MA than boys.  Higher levels of MA are related to lower levels of mathematics performance, which may indicate that "...girls may have had the potential to perform better than boys in mathematics however their performance may have been attenuated by their higher levels of MA."

Read more about the research and its implications here, and find the full report here.