Mathematics Anxiety

Math anxiety is the feeling of nervousness and apprehension toward math problems, classes, or exams. It generally begins when a child is in fourth grade and escalates throughout high school. Math anxiety is not just a psychological problem as it can cause students to discontinue taking math classes beyond high school requirements, limiting their choices with regard to college or career opportunities. Teachers and parents have been shown to influence math anxiety, and both can assist in easing the psychological and physical symptoms children experience. Practice with various math problems, having no time limit for exams, and being encouraged through errors have been shown to ease math anxiety.

Keywords Math Anxiety; Mathematics; Phobia; Psychology; Short-Term Memory; Working Memory

Overview

Math anxiety is the feeling of worry, frustration, agitation, and a fear of failure with regard to taking a math class, completing math problems, and/or taking a math exam. Being anxious about math can begin when a child is in fourth grade and generally increases when students are in middle and high school. Some studies have focused on students as young as first grade experiencing math anxiety (Harari, Vukovic, & Bailey, 2013). In addition to past experiences with math, teachers and parents can influence the anxiety a child feels when presented with math problems. A person suffering from math anxiety usually experiences the physical signs of having a phobia or anxiousness: increased heart rate, stomach discomfort, sweating, trembling, and weakness within the body. Anyone who has experienced extreme discomfort being in a crowded elevator (claustrophobia) or looking out a window on the top floor of a building (vertigo) can relate to the sense of panic when a math test is placed in front of a person suffering from math anxiety.

Math anxiety is so pervasive that it has been researched for over fifty years. According to Bower (2001), math anxiety has been shown to actually "disrupt mental processes needed for doing arithmetic and drag down math competence" (p. 405). Other kinds of anxiety or phobias can inhibit a person's activities; for example, a person suffering from claustrophobia may take several flights of stairs rather than getting on an elevator, and a person experiencing acrophobia can choose not to go to the top of the Empire State Building. However, math-anxious people suffer from an actual dysfunction in brain activity; more specifically, working memory is affected. Working memory allows people "to retain a limited amount of information while working on a task—and block out distractions and irrelevant information" (Cavanagh, 2007a, p. 12). Furthermore, Gardner (1983) asserts that "the most central and least replaceable feature of the mathematician's gift is the ability to handle skillfully long chains of reasoning" (Gardner, 1983, p. 139). If the capability to work with long strings of numbers is affected due to math anxiety, solving such problems can be impossible.

How Does Math Anxiety Affect Children?

Unfortunately, when faced with a math problem that he or she does not understand, the child suffering from math anxiety becomes filled with negativism and focuses on that, distracting him- or herself from attempting to work through the problem. Furthermore, this distraction can start a negative cycle in which the same child rushes though the problem and makes a mistake because he or she is not focusing on the problem itself. The mistake then reinforces the negativism and increases the need to rush through homework or an exam (“Math Anxiety,” 2007). And unlike the people who avoid the situations that make them anxious, a student does not have the option of avoiding math during the school day—or afterward, for that matter, when faced with assigned homework.

Ashcraft and Kirk (2001) note that there are specific types of math problems that tend to give students the most anxiety. Those problems are the ones that deal with large numbers and require several steps such as carrying and borrowing numbers and long division—tasks that require working memory. Amanda McMahon, a ten-year-old fifth grader, was working on algebra in her elementary class. She identified confusion as a feeling she got when working on her assignments because "letters divided by other letters are somehow supposed to equal a different set of letters multiplied by other letters" (personal communication, October 24, 2007). At the end of the school year, McMahon would take a comprehensive New York State standardized exam in mathematics in addition to culminating math exams required by her school district. Her view of math was not a positive one.

Potential Consequences

Such a negative view could be very costly. The issue with students such as McMahon—those who complete their homework and pass tests but fear doing either—is not simply a psychological concern; it is a lifetime concern. Students who feel anxious when faced with math problems or who perform poorly on math exams tend to stop taking math classes beyond the point at which they are required. By not taking higher-level classes, students greatly limit their options regarding higher education and employment possibilities. While it is commonly believed that boys outperform girls on math achievement, there is evidence that whenever such a divide is noted, the divide is not permanent. Woolfolk (1998) points out that the difference in gender and math performance can "decrease substantially or disappear altogether when the actual number of previous math courses taken by each student is considered" (Fennema & Sherman, 1977; Oakes, 1990; Pallas & Alexander, 1983, as cited in Woolfolk, 1998, p. 183). The more classes a student takes, the more familiar with the material he or she will become, and the more comfortable manipulating math problems he or she will be. However, when faced with the option of feeling frustrated and anxious much of the time, it is easy to see why boys and girls cease taking math classes rather than adding to their frustration with additional courses in their not so favorite subject.

When looking toward higher education, a lack of math experience can cause the need for non-credit bearing courses in college, in addition to the required math courses for any specific field. This adds to tuition bills and the time it takes to complete a degree, and, when in conjunction with math anxiety, can cause psychological problems as well. Karin Killough, Director of the Learning Center at the State University of New York College at Plattsburgh, noted that in the 2006-2007 academic year, her tutors accumulated 10,000 contact hours assisting students in various subjects. Math courses, including statistics and calculus, totaled almost one quarter of those contacts (personal communication, October 24, 2007).

Sarah Taylor, a math tutor in the Learning Center, indicated that when having to break down the number of contacts she had with students who had trouble with math problems versus those with math anxiety, the breakdown differed depending on the time of the semester. During mid-terms and final exams, more than three-quarters of the students she assisted had anxiety issues; on the other hand, during the less stressful times of the semester, almost the same amount came to her for assistance with math problems. Taylor, a math and accounting major, attributed this discrepancy to the high stakes of exams and students' lack of confidence in their math ability when those stakes are higher (personal communication, October 24, 2007). When a final grade is at stake, it is likely that college students who experience math anxiety will not continue taking math courses beyond what is required of them.

Applications

Teacher's Role

It is important that teachers understand when the introduction to mathematics takes place in the life of a child. According to Gardner, introduction to the concept of math begins when infants first learn "the world of objects. For it is in confronting objects, in ordering and reordering them, and in assessing their quantity, that the young child gains his or her initial and most fundamental knowledge about the logical-mathematical realm. From this preliminary point, logical-mathematical intelligence rapidly becomes remote from the world of material objects. . . . The individual becomes more able to appreciate the actions that one can perform upon objects. . . . Over the course of development, one proceeds from objects to statements, from actions to the relations among actions, from the realm of the sensori-motor to the realm of pure abstraction—ultimately, to the heights of logic and science" (Gardner, 1983, p. 129).

Math anxiety develops shortly after children enter the world of structured education. If left on their own, Gardner asserts, children will manipulate objects and utilize them in a way that best fits their needs (p. 129). Once they enter into a school system, however, fitting their needs loses priority to goals, objectives, and standardized tests outside their control. Furthermore, there is research that points to teachers being the possible culprits of the math anxiety their students experience. In a study conducted by Jackson and Leffingwell (1999), the researchers identified several teacher behaviors that cause math anxiety in students:

• Being hostile

• Exhibiting gender bias

• Having an uncaring attitude

• Expressing anger

• Having unrealistic expectations

• Embarrassing students in front of their peers (as cited in Furner & Duffy, 2002, p. 68).

In addition, Oberlin (1982) found that teaching techniques such as "assigning the same work for everyone, teaching the textbook problem by problem, and insisting on only one correct way to complete a problem" can increase a student's anxiousness (as cited in Furner & Duffy, 2002, p. 69). Furthermore, Woolfolk (1998) notes that "some elementary school teachers spend more academic time with boys in math and with girls in reading. In one study, high school geometry teachers directed most of their questions to boys, even though the girls asked questions and volunteered answers more often" (p. 183). It is plausible to expect that if teachers have positive attitudes, treat students respectfully and individually, and treat girls and boys as if both genders have the same potential for success in math, the instance of math anxiety would decline. Researchers have also indicated that the use of breathing exercises before exams may greatly impact math anxiety in students. This may be a possible area for teachers or other school staff to explore (Brunyé et al., 2013).

Effect on Successful Math Students

In the article "Overcoming Math Anxiety" (2007), it is noted that even students showing success with math can have math anxiety to the degree that it impairs their short-term memory. This information is in contrast to historical research citing that math anxiety only occurs in students who are weak in math. It also proves that students need to be treated as though math anxiety could be a concern regardless of their performance. In addition, the article states that "a lack of role models in mathematics and the sciences—along with stereotypical assumptions that Blacks, Hispanics, and women are poor math students—can negatively impact those groups' math performance. . . . Furthermore, work with learning-disabled students suggests that students' language processing skills should not be overlooked when it comes to beating math anxiety. Students who lack the grammar skills necessary to grasp the meaning of mathematical word problems may be more intimidated than students who can process the language and interpret the logic of such problems. Mathematics professors have discovered that working in groups is an effective way to combat—and conquer—fear of math. Engaging in group problem solving with peer role models can show students that there may be alternate ways to express and solve a problem and provide much-needed support to those who may have become culturally conditioned to believe that math is too difficult a subject for them" ("Overcoming Math Anxiety," 2006, p. 41).

What Teachers Can Do

There are several things teachers can do to decrease their students' anxiety with math. For instance, providing the names and histories of role models who have been successful in math can help students think beyond their own classrooms. More specifically, discussing past mathematicians who were women or minorities can show children that anyone can be successful in the subject. Also, showing students that wrong answers can be helpful to figuring out a correct answer is also advantageous in helping students ease their anxiety. Finally, abstraction and mathematical terms are a problem for many students. Seeing a problem through real life situations with familiar words or pictures can make problems of money, time, size, and distance easier to understand. Problems that require computation outside of any real life context are difficult to appreciate when compared to how much allowance a student will have remaining after purchasing a book and a video game. Identifying how many miles it is to Grandma's house and figuring out the fastest way to travel there is much more meaningful than addition or division with numbers produced from a text book (Ruffins, 2007, p. 19).

Role of Parents

Parents have a greater effect on a child's propensity toward math anxiety than teachers do. Vukovic, Roberts, and Green (2013) found that when parents are involved with and supportive of math work at home, math anxiety was reduced for those students. Scarpello (2007) points out that "students' grades in math were higher when students perceived that their parents were encouraging their effort in math" (p. 35). Parents also have a stronger influence than teachers when it comes to the classes students choose and the career choices they make (Scarpello, 2007, p. 35). For example, if a parent shrugs off a child's belief that he or she simply can't "do math" by not encouraging the child to try harder or to take a different class, the desire to continue with math classes will not exist, and the child's options for the future will be limited.

Scarpello (2007) notes that limited options are not always seen negatively in the minds of students: "Some students choose [career and technical education] CTE as a consequence of many years of unsuccessful academic classroom experience, which has persuaded them not to aspire to college. To many CTE students, the learning environment of career and technical classes is more comfortable than the typical academic classroom. . . . These students may not like academic subjects, may have performed poorly in them, and may have developed self-perceptions that they should avoid occupations that require college" (Scarpello, 2007, p. 34).

In addition, Tsui and Mazzocco (2007) conducted a study and found that "three measures were positively correlated with math anxiety: concern over mistakes, doubts about actions, and parental criticism" (Tsui & Mazzocco, 2007, p. 138). Parents are the first role models children have. It should be clear, then, that the influence parents have regarding a child's education would have both positive and negative effects for the child. For example, if parents have expectations that are too high, children can develop math anxiety to the point that they see every error as reinforcement that they are failures when it comes to math: "I tried, but I still couldn't do it. I'm a loser." On the flip-side, a low expectation from a parent may make a child feel that he or she is unable to be part of the world of math and that it is okay to avoid it completely as a result: "I just can't do it, and I don't like it anyway. I guess I won't bother with any more classes." Both ideals can have detrimental effects for children.

Overcoming Math Anxiety

Students can learn to overcome math anxiety. First, it is important for all children to know that mathematicians come in all shapes, sizes, and colors. Furthermore, boys are not necessarily better at math than girls. Oftentimes, boys are simply encouraged more. Second, effective teaching strategies must be used in math classes. Students need to practice math problems even when they understand what they are doing, and teachers have to offer students the opportunity to experience taking math tests in timed situations when there are no stakes involved. Taking only final exams or standardized tests in timed situations will increase anxiety levels regardless of a student's ability in math. Practicing how to be prepared for and how to react in light of a timed exam can help students make progress toward lowering their math anxiety. Also, teachers need to know at what levels their students fall throughout the classroom. Teaching all students the same material at the same pace leaves the weaker, slower students behind once the teacher moves on. In addition, teachers can group students together to complete math problems. This takes the individual pressure off students and helps to assure students that they are not alone in misunderstanding specific problems. Finally, teachers also need to communicate with parents, and both need to offer encouragement as much as possible when their students/children are working on math assignments and planning their academic futures.

Viewpoints

In 1992, high school science teacher Lou D'Amore gave his ninth-graders a ten-question math test originally created by William Elwood Hume in 1932 for third-grade students (Cornwall, 1999). Most of D'Amore's ninth-graders failed the ten-question exam, while "only 25% obtained perfect scores" (Standing, 2006, p. 152). In 2006, Standing administered the same test to seventy-five undergraduate students at a liberal arts college. In addition to the math test, the students were given a questionnaire in which they had to "rate their liking for math, the math teaching in high school, computers, and general science," as well as "their natural math ability and math anxiety" (p. 153). They were given no time limit to complete the D'Amore test. Twenty-five of the seventy-five students obtained perfect scores on the test, with the overall mean of the exam being a score of 8.71 out of ten. The "scores increased with self-rated math ability . . . and decreased with self-rated math anxiety. . . . They were also correlated with the subject's own prediction of the score s/he would achieve" (p. 155). Fifty out of seventy-five undergraduate students got at least one question incorrect on a mathematics exam created for third graders. To note the concern created by this and the D'Amore study, the test questions created by Hume were published on the Reader's Digest Canada website:

• Subtract these numbers: 9,864 – 5,947

• Multiply: 92 x 34

• Add the following: $126.30 + $265.12 + $196.40

• An airplane travels 360 kilometres in three hours. How far does it go in one hour?

• If a pie is cut into sixths, how many pieces would there be?

• William bought six oranges at 5 cents each and had 15 cents left over. How much had he at first?

• Jane had $2.75. Mary had 95 cents more than Jane. How much did Jane and Mary have together?

• A boy bought a bicycle for $21.50. He sold it for $23.75. Did he gain or lose and by how much?

• Mary's mother bought a hat for $2.85. What was her change from $5?

• There are 36 children in one room and 33 in the other room in Tom's school. How much will it cost to buy a crayon at 7 cents each for each child? ("Are You Concerned," 1999)

These questions were administered in untimed testing situations. In several cases, the problems cannot be solved in just one step and, therefore, require working memory. For the third graders taking the test, they were showing what they had learned in their class up to that point. For the ninth graders, however, they had something to prove, and therefore, the stakes were higher for their answers being correct. The same can be said for the college students. That more than half of the seventy-five test-takers got at least one question wrong could be the result of many variables, including hurrying through the exam or feeling the pressure of needing to pass a test created for third-graders. It is difficult to speculate, but as Bracey (1996) notes, the United States ranks fourteenth out of fifteen countries when it comes to math skills (as cited in Standing, 2006). This may be because problems like those in the D'Amore test cannot be answered without the use of working memory, which is affected by anxiety-provoking math testing situations.

Burns (1998) identified that two thirds of adults in the United States "fear and loathe" math (as cited in Furner & Duffy, 2002, p. 68). While the general public may view math anxiety as the result of students' simply not understanding the math they are learning, research shows that self-doubt about math ability can cause anxious tendencies (Cavanagh, 2007a). If college students make mistakes on problems of addition, the testing environment and the students' preconceived notions regarding their ability in math have to be taken into account, and experience with math at an early age must be considered a factor.

If teachers can promote math in a positive way, encouraging students to ask questions and applauding them for trying even when mistakes are made, students will be less likely to see themselves as not being able to "do math." And they will be less likely to fear the prospect of taking additional math classes. Educators do not hold the key, however; parents do. Parents need to be as positive as possible about math as well. Instead of declining to help their kids with math homework (possibly because they themselves do not know how to do it), parents need to learn the solutions right alongside their children to prove that it can be done. In addition, parents need to support their children (especially their daughters) by impressing upon them that math is just one more subject to be learned, not one that is more difficult.

Terms & Concepts

Math Anxiety: Math anxiety is the feeling of nervousness and apprehension toward math problems, classes, or exams.

Phobia: An irrational fear of an activity or objects (flying, snakes, heights) that causes the behavioral changes required to avoid the activity or object.

Short-Term Memory: The part of a person's memory that retains information for a short period of time.

Working Memory: The part of a person's memory that allows for several activities at one time, like solving a math problem that requires numerous steps.

Bibliography

Are you concerned about the way our children are being taught math? (1999). Reader's Digest Canada. Retrieved October 22, 2007, from http://www.readersdigest.ca/debate.html?a=v&di=55

Ashcraft, M. A., & Kirk, E. P. (2001). The relationships among working memory, math anxiety, and performance. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 130 , 224–237. Retrieved October 9, 2014, from EBSCO Online Database PsycINFO.

Bower, B. (2001). Math fears subtract from memory, learning. Science News, 159 , 405. Retrieved October 9, 2014, from EBSCO Online Database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=4742548&site=ehost-live

Bracey, G. W. (1996). The sixth Bracey report on the condition of public education. Phi Delta Kappan, 78 , 127–138. Retrieved December 12, 2007, from EBSCO Online Database Academic Search Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=9610177901&site=ehost-live

Brunyé, T. T., Mahoney, C. R., Giles, G. E., Rapp, D. N., Taylor, H. A., & Kanarek, R. B. (2013). Learning to relax: Evaluating four brief interventions for overcoming the negative emotions accompanying math anxiety. Learning & Individual Differences, 27, 1–7. Retrieved December 26, 2013, from EBSCO Online Database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=92730842&site=ehost-live

Burns, M. (1998). Math: Facing an American phobia. Sausalito, CA: Math Solutions Publications.

Cavanagh, S. (2007a). 'Math anxiety' confuses the equation for students. Education Week, 26 , 12. Retrieved October 22, 2007 from EBSCO Online Database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=24204128&site=ehost-live

Cavanagh, S. (2007b). Understanding 'math anxiety'. Teacher Magazine Online. Retrieved October 23, 2007, from http://www.teachermagazine.org/tm/articles/2007/02/21/ew_math.html

Cornwall, C. (1999, Feb.). Why Johnny can't add. Reader's Digest, 154, 38–43.

Fennema, E., & Sherman, J. (1977). Sex-related differences in mathematics achievement, spatial visualization and affective factors. American Educational Research Journal, 14 , 51–71.

Furner, J. M., & Duffy, M. L. (2002, Nov.) Equity for all students in the new millennium: Disabling math anxiety. Intervention in School & Clinic, 38 , 67–75. Retrieved October 25, 2007, from EBSCO Online Database Academic Search Premier. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=7511714&site=ehost-live

Gardner, H. (1983). Frames of mind: The theory of multiple intelligences. New York: Basic Books.

Harari, R. R., Vukovic, R. K., & Bailey, S. P. (2013). Mathematics anxiety in young children: An exploratory study. Journal of Experimental Education, 81 , 538–555. Retrieved December 26, 2013, from EBSCO Online Database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=89980038&site=ehost-live

Hume, W. E. (1932). The opportunity plan: Arithmetic, senior third class. Toronto: Thomas Nelson & Sons.

Jackson, C. D., & Leffingwell, R. J. (1999). The role of instructors in creating math anxiety in students from kindergarten through college. Mathematics Teacher, 92 , 583–586. Retrieved October 9, 2014, from EBSCO Online Database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=2333677&site=ehost-live

Math anxiety. (2007). Gifted Child Today, 30 , 9. Retrieved October 22, 2007, from EBSCO Online Database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=25690968&site=ehost-live

Oakes, J. (1990). Opportunities, achievement, and choice: Women and minority students in science and mathematics. Review of Research in Education, 16 , 153–222.

Oberlin, L. (1982). How to teach children to hate mathematics. School Science and Mathematics, 82 , 261.

Overcoming math anxiety. (2007). Journal of Developmental Education, 30 , 40–41. Retrieved October 22, 2007, from EBSCO Online Database Educational Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=25122577&site=ehost-live

Pallas, A. M., & Alexander, K. (1983). Sex differences in quantitative SAT performance: New evidence on the differential coursework hypothesis. American Educational Research Journal, 20 , 165–182. Retrieved October 9, 2014, from EBSCO Online Database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=19531489&site=ehost-live

Ruffins, P. (2007). A real fear. Diverse: Issues in Higher Education, 24 , 17–19. Retrieved October 9, 2014, from EBSCO Online Database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=24741421&site=ehost-live

Scarpello, G. (2007). Helping students get past math anxiety. Techniques: Connecting Education & Careers, 82 , 34–35. Retrieved October 22, 2007, from EBSCO Online Database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=26609131&site=ehost-live

Standing, L. G. (2006). Why Johnny still can't add: Predictors of university students' performance on an elementary arithmetic test. Social Behavior & Personality: An International Journal, 34 , 151–159. Retrieved October 22, 2007, from EBSCO Online Database Academic Research Premier. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=19785128&site=ehost-live

Tatar, E. (2012). The relationship between mathematics anxiety and learning styles of high school students. New Educational Review, 28 , 94–101. Retrieved October 10, 2014, from EBSCO Online Database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=88995825&site=ehost-live

Tempel, T., & Neumann, R. (2014). Stereotype threat, test anxiety, and mathematics performance. Social Psychology of Education, 17 , 491–501. Retrieved October 10, 2014, from EBSCO Online Database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=98371813&site=ehost-live

Tsui, J. M., & Mazzocco, M. M. M. (2007). Effects of math anxiety and perfectionism on timed versus untimed math testing in mathematically gifted sixth graders. Roeper Review, 29 , 132–139. Retrieved October 21, 2007, from EBSCO Online Database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=23747806&site=ehost-live

Vukovic, R. K., Roberts, S. O., & Green Wright, L. (2013). From parental involvement to children's mathematical performance: The role of mathematics anxiety. Early Education & Development, 24 , 446–467. Retrieved December 26, 2013, from EBSCO Online Database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=87398818&site=ehost-live

Woolfolk, A. E. (1998). Educational psychology (7th ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.

Suggested Reading

Dreger, R. M., & Aiken, L. R. (1957). The identification of number anxiety in a college population. Journal of Educational Psychology, 48 , 344–351. Retrieved October 9, 2014, from EBSCO Online Database PsycARTICLES.

Dreyden, J., & Gallagher, S. A. (1989). The effects of time and direction changes on the SAT performance of academically talented adolescents. Journal for the Education of the Gifted, 12 , 187–204.

Frost, R. O., & DiBartolo, R. M. (2002). Perfectionism, anxiety, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. In G. L. Fleet & P. L. Hewitt (Eds.), Perfectionism: Theory, research and treatment (pp. 341–372). Washington DC: American Psychological Association.

Frost, R. O., & Marten, P. A. (1990). Perfectionism and evaluative threat. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 14 , 559–572.

Frost, R. O., Marten, P. A., Lahart, C., & Rosenblate, R. (1990). The dimensions of perfectionism. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 14 , 449–468.

Gregor, A. (2005). Examination anxiety: Live with it, control it or make it work for you? School Psychology International, 26 , 617–635. Retrieved October 22, 2007, from EBSCO Online Database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=19266966&site=ehost-live

Hillyer, K. (1988). Problems of gifted children. Journal of the Association for Study of Perception, 21 (1/2), 10–26. Retrieved October 9, 2014, from EBSCO Online Database PsycINFO.

Kellogg, J. S., Hopko, D. R., & Ashcraft, M. H. (1999). The effects of time pressure on arithmetic performance. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 13 , 591–600.

Lupkowski, A. E., & Schumacker, R. E. (1991). Mathematics anxiety among talented students. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 20 , 563–572.

Miyake, A. (2001). Individual differences in working memory: Introduction to the special section. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 130 , 163–168. Retrieved October 9, 2014, from EBSCO Online Database PsycARTICLES.

National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. (2000). Principles and standards for school mathematics. Reston, VA: Author.

Parker, W. D. (1997). An empirical typology of perfectionism in academically talented children. American Educational Research Journal, 34 , 545–562. Retrieved October 9, 2014, from EBSCO Online Database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=18697145&site=ehost-live

Parker, W. D., & Adkins, K. K. (1995). Perfectionism and the gifted. Roeper Review, 17 , 173–176. Retrieved December 12, 2007, from EBSCO Online Database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=9504252814&site=ehost-live

Parker, W. D., & Mills, C. J. (1996). The incidence of perfectionism in gifted students. Gifted Child Quarterly, 40, 194–199. Retrieved October 9, 2014, from EBSCO Online Database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=9705282333&site=ehost-live

Parker, W. D., & Stumpf, H. (1995). An examination of the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale with a sample of academically talented children. Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment, 13 , 372–383.

Richardson, F. C., & Suinn, R. M. (1972). The mathematics anxiety rating scale: Psychometric data. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 19 , 551–554. Retrieved October 9, 2014, from EBSCO Online Database PsycARTICLES.

Rosenthal, T. L. (1980). Modeling approaches to test anxiety and related performance problems. In I. G. Sarason (Ed.), Test anxiety: Theory, research and applications (pp. 245–270). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Schmidt, W. H. (1998). Changing mathematics in the U.S.: Policy implications from the third international mathematics and science study. Presented at the 76th annual meeting of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, Washington, DC.

Suinn, R. M., Edie, C. A., Nicoletti, J., & Spinelli, P. R. (1972). The MARS, a measure of mathematics anxiety: Psychometric data. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 28 , 373–375. Retrieved October 9, 2014, from EBSCO Online Database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=15847515&site=ehost-live

Suinn, R. M., Taylor, S., & Edwards, R. W. (1988). Suinn mathematics anxiety rating scale for elementary school students (MARS-E): Psychometric and normative data. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 48 , 979–986.

Taylor, B., & Fraser, B. (2013). Relationships between learning environment and mathematics anxiety. Learning Environments Research, 16 , 297–313. Retrieved October 9, 2014, from EBSCO Online Database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=87820490&site=ehost-live

Zeidner, M. (1998). Test anxiety: The state of the art. New York: Plenum Press.