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Statistics anxiety, trait anxiety, learning behavior, and academic performance

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Abstract

The present study investigated the relationship between statistics anxiety, individual characteristics (e.g., trait anxiety and learning strategies), and academic performance. Students enrolled in a statistics course in psychology (N = 147) filled in a questionnaire on statistics anxiety, trait anxiety, interest in statistics, mathematical self-concept, learning strategies, and procrastination. Additionally, their performance in the examination was recorded. The structural equation model showed that statistics anxiety held a crucial role as the strongest direct predictor of performance. Students with higher statistics anxiety achieved less in the examination and showed higher procrastination scores. Statistics anxiety was related indirectly to spending less effort and time on learning. Trait anxiety was related positively to statistics anxiety and, counterintuitively, to academic performance. This result can be explained by the heterogeneity of the measure of trait anxiety. The part of trait anxiety that is unrelated to the specific part of statistics anxiety correlated positively with performance.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Graz, Graz, Austria

    Daniel Macher, Manuela Paechter & Ilona Papousek

  2. Institute of Public Health, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

    Kai Ruggeri

Authors
  1. Daniel Macher
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  2. Manuela Paechter
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  3. Ilona Papousek
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  4. Kai Ruggeri
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Daniel Macher.

Additional information

Daniel Macher. Department of Psychology, University of Graz, Graz, Austria. E-mail: daniel.macher@uni-graz.at; Web site: http://paedpsy.uni-graz.at/

Current themes of research:

Statistics anxiety. Learning with digital media.

Most relevant publications in the field of Psychology of Education:

Paechter, M., Maier, B. & Macher, D. (2010). Students’ expectations of, and experiences in e-learning: Their relation to learning achievements and course satisfaction. Computers & Education, 54(1), 222–229.

Paechter, M., Maier, B. & Macher, D. (2011). Evaluation universitärer Lehre mittels Einschätzungen des subjektiven Kompetenzerwerbs [Evaluation of University Courses by Students’ Assessment of Acquisition of Competence]. Psychologie in Erziehung und Unterricht, 58, 128–138.

Papousek, I., Ruggeri, K., Macher, D., Paechter, M., Heene, M., Weiss, E.M., et al. (2012). Psychometric evaluation and experimental validation of the Statistics Anxiety Rating Scale. Journal of Personality Assessment (in press).

Manuela Paechter. Department of Psychology, University of Graz, Graz, Austria. E-mail: manuela.paechter@uni-graz.at; Web site: http://paedpsy.uni-graz.at/

Current themes of research:

Learning with digital media. Quality of instruction. Statistics anxiety.

Most relevant publications in the field of Psychology of Education:

Paechter, M. & Maier, B. (2010). Online or face-to-face? Students’ experiences and preferences in e-learning. Internet and Higher Education, 13, 292–297.

Paechter, M., Maier, B. & Macher, D. (2010). Students’ expectations of, and experiences in e-learning: Their relation to learning achievements and course satisfaction. Computers & Education, 54(1), 222–229.

Jones, M.G., Paechter, M., Gardner, G., Yen, C.-F., Taylor, A. & Tretter, T. (in press). Teachers’ concepts of spatial scale: An intercultural comparison. International Journal of Science Education.

Ilona Papousek. Department of Psychology, University of Graz, Graz, Austria. E-mail: ilona.papousek@uni-graz.at; Web site: http://www.uni-graz.at/biologicalpsychology/

Current themes of research:

Neuroscientific and psychophysiological studies of emotional traits and states. Statistics anxiety.

Most relevant publications in the field of Psychology of Education:

Papousek, I., Nauschnegg, K., Paechter, M., Lackner, H.K., Goswami, N., & Schulter, G. (2010). Trait and state positive affect and cardiovascular recovery from experimental academic stress. Biological Psychology, 83, 108–115.

Papousek, I., Ruggeri, K., Macher, D., Paechter, M., Heene, M., Weiss, E.M., et al. (2012). Psychometric evaluation and experimental validation of the Statistics Anxiety Rating Scale. Journal of Personality Assessment (in press).

Ruggeri, K., Diaz, C., Kelley, K., Papousek, I., Dempster, M., & Hanna, D. (2008). International issues in education. Psychology Teaching Review, 15, 94–104.

Kai Ruggeri. Institute of Public Health, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK. E-mail: dar56@medschl.cam.ac.uk; Web site: http://www.clahrc-cp.nihr.ac.uk/

Current themes of research:

Evidence-based policy in public health, mental health and health economics. Evaluation of e-learning programmes in health.

Most relevant publications in the field of Psychology of Education:

Papousek, I., Ruggeri, K., Macher, D., Paechter, M., Heene, M., Weiss, E.M., et al. (2012). Psychometric evaluation and experimental validation of the Statistics Anxiety Rating Scale. Journal of Personality Assessment (in press).

Ruggeri, K., de Azevedo, F., Bechard-Torres, E., Joyce, C., Jurkevičiūtė, I., Knight, S., McDermott, E., Naber, B., Piest, J., Vainre, M., & Zupan, Z. (2011). Divided Education: Analysing systemic segregation in Bosnian schools. Journal of East European and Asian Studies, 2(1), 49–65.

Ruggeri, K., Dempster, M., & Hanna, D. (2011). The impact of misunderstanding the nature of statistics. Psychology Teaching Review, 17(1), 35–40.

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Macher, D., Paechter, M., Papousek, I. et al. Statistics anxiety, trait anxiety, learning behavior, and academic performance. Eur J Psychol Educ 27, 483–498 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10212-011-0090-5

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