Speaker
Description
Understanding math anxiety in adults is important because it leads to a cycle of low confidence and anxiety that can affect academic and/or work performance. It also was very challenging given that most existing tools focus this construct on younger populations and school-related contexts—such as classrooms, teachers, and exams—, raising concerns about their relevance and ecological validity for grown-up experiences. To assess specifically math anxiety in adults, Szczygieł (2022) developed the Math Anxiety Questionnaire for Adults (MAQA), a 19-item self-report measure using a 4-point Likert scale. The present study aims to evaluate dimensionality, convergent and criterion-related validity and reliability of the Italian version of the MAQA. A sample of 375 university students of Psychology (female = 327; 87.2%), from university of Foggia and Chieti, aged 18–61 (M = 21.42, SD = 6.50), completed a series of questionnaires. Both Explorative and Confirmatory Factor Analysis supported the unidimensional structure of the MAQA consistently with the original validation. Significant correlations with the STICSA-State (r = .237, p < .01) and STICSA-Trait (r = .265, p < .01) and SAS total score (r = .485, p < .01) confirmed convergent validity, while associations with MASA subscales (from r = .054, p = .300, to r = .428, p < .01) and MPP (r = -.374, p < .01) supported criterion validity. Further, MAQA showed excellent reliability coefficients. Overall, from these findings the MAQA shows to be a psychometrically sound tool for assessing math anxiety in adult populations across varied contexts.
| If you're submitting a symposium, or a talk that is part of a symposium, is this a junior symposium? | No |
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