THE NATURE AND CAUSES OF MATHEMATICAL ANXIETY AMONG SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

ABSTRACT 

The study investigated the nature and causes of mathematical anxiety among Senior High School (SHS) students and the extent to which age and anxiety level can predict their mathematics performance. Cross-Sectional survey design with a mixed-method approach was adopted to collect both qualitative and quantitative data. Purposive and simple random sampling techniques were used to sample of 270 final year students from non-science departments of four (4) public Senior High Schools in the Agona West municipality at the Central region of Ghana for the study. Questionnaire and semistructured interview protocol were used to collect both quantitative and qualitative data, and later, secondary data was also collected on students’ mathematics examination scores. Frequency count, percentage, Pearson’s product-moment correlation coefficient, and regression analysis were the statistical tests used in analysing the quantitative data collected for the study while the qualitative data was presented in descriptive words. The result showed that 64% of the respondents have high mathematical anxiety, while only 2% have low mathematical anxiety. However, 34% of the participants have moderate mathematical anxiety. Besides, it was discovered that students’ mathematical anxiety stemmed from assessment practices such as poor testtaking, poor test preparation, examination conditions, the structure and content of assessment items, etc. as a prevalent cause. Pearson’s correlation coefficient revealed a strong and significant negative relationship between students’ mathematical anxiety and their performance in mathematics, while a regression analysis unearthed that mathematical anxiety score can be considered as a significant variable in predicting students’ mathematics performance at the Senior High School level of education. Finally, the researcher concluded based on the findings that Ghanaian SHS students have a high level of mathematical anxiety which is strongly connected to assessment practices as the cause and has a converse relationship with their academic performance in mathematics. Also, students’ mathematical anxiety scores can predict their performance in mathematics.