Longitudinal Study of Math-Anxiety in First Grade Elementary Students

Objectives The purpose of the study in to investigate the state of math-anxiety in first-grade elementary school students and the causes. Methods I conducted a longitudinal study on math-anxiety on 380 first-grade elementary school students from March 2022 to February 2024. Students' level of math-anxiety was investigated three times using the math-anxiety survey items, and the cause of math-anxiety was confirmed through follow-up interviews. Results Most first grade elementary school students who participated in this study had no or low math-anxiety, but there were a small number of students with high math-anxiety. In particular, math-anxiety was highest at the beginning of first grade. Students most frequently cited concerns about failing in mathematics learning as a cause of fear. Conclusions The finding that math-anxiety is highest at the beginning of first grade suggests that students feel more anxious when faced with math tasks they find difficult before they have adapted to new mathematics learning situations. The results of this study are expected to help understand math -anxiety in elementary school students and develop teaching methods to prevent math-anxiety in students.