Introduction 

In today’s society, it is accepted by peers and the wider community for students to demonstrate negative attitudes towards mathematics (Ashcraft, 2002; Wilkins, 2000). This type of culture, in turn, encourages the development of mathematics anxiety. Anxiety is an important factor to consider in educational research as it has the ability to impair performance (Ashcraft, 2002; Ashcraft & Kirk, 2001; Hopko et al., 1998 etc…) and also has documented relationships with motivation in mathematics (Meece, Wigfield & Eccles, 1990; Ma, 1999). Motivation includes factors such as competency-related beliefs (or self-efficacy), control beliefs, subjective task values and achievement goal orientations (Wentzel & Wigfield, 1998). While research into the role of gender has produced mixed findings (Hembree, 1990; Ma, 1999; PISA, 2003), mathematics anxiety has been shown to increase in early adolescence (Meece, Wigfield & Eccles, 1990; Ma, 1999).        

Relationships between mathematics anxiety, motivation and gender were examined in the present project. Op’t Eyde, De Corte and Verschaffel (2001) propose that the analysis of on-task processes will provide a more “valid and reliable” way to assess students emotional experiences within the classroom (p.165). Thus, in our project we have assessed anxiety in two ways. In accordance with previous research, we evaluated general, anticipatory mathematics anxiety (the more trait-like qualities of the emotion) as well as assessing on-task anxiety during completion of a mathematics problem-solving task via the computer program Between the Lines (BTL; see Ainley & Hidi, 2002).  

Investigation of anxiety and motivation in mathematics also makes it possible to acquire insight into the culture surrounding mathematics. Additionally it is necessary to explore the different contextual factors facilitating the development of a negative mathematics culture. Järvelä (2001) emphasizes the role of the social context and observes that motivational research has only recently begun to seriously consider its influence in educational processes. Supporting this perspective, Ma (1999) argues that the influence of mathematics anxiety on students’ performance and general motivation is dynamic and socially situated. Studies repeatedly show that peers are social agents who play a vital part in adolescent enjoyment, emotional development and performance at school. Peers are also particularly influential at the early adolescence stage when studies show mathematics anxiety increases (Ryan, 1992; Wentzel & Watkins, 2002; Ma, 1999). In the current project, we are investigating patterns of peer influence on adolescent students’ mathematics anxiety and motivation. Peer influence was investigated within friendship and status networks. A network approach has been adopted as this gives consideration to the influence of close friends as well as the wider, overlapping groups of peers students interact with at school (Kindermann, McCollam & Gibson, 1996).

The research questions that will be addressed are: 

      1)      How does anxiety (both on-task and generalised) relate to motivation in mathematics?

      2)      What is the role of gender in the above relationships?

      3)      Are mathematics motivation and, in particular, anxiety subject to peer influence within friendship and status networks?

Method & Design

Two hundred and twenty nine Year 8 students (120 girls and 109 boys) from two high schools participated. Students’ ages ranged between 12 and 14 (M = 13.26, SD = .49). Students completed the BTL problem-solving task (including on-task anxiety measures) individually. At a separate occasion students completed an academic motivation questionnaire (items from The Self- and Task-Perception Questionnaire (Eccles & Wigfield, 1995), the Attitudes Towards Mathematics Inventory (Tapia, 1996), and the Patterns of Adaptive Learning Survey (Midgley et al., 1998)), the Test Anxiety Inventory (TAI; Spielberger, 1990) and the Mathematics Anxiety Questionnaire (MAQ; Wigfield & Eccles, 1988). [Note: the TAI was also administered as test anxiety is often co-morbid with mathematics anxiety.] To investigate peer influence, students were asked to respond to each of the MAQ items once on behalf of themselves and once on behalf of their groups of friends. Students also completed the social network questionnaire wherein they listed students in their year level who were close friends, who they believed to be popular, who they asked for mathematics help etc…

Results

            A TwoStep cluster analysis of the MAQ and TAI anxiety ratings produced a three-group solution – high, medium and low anxiety. MANOVA analyses revealed a significant main effect of anxiety group membership on subjective task value, self-efficacy and perceived difficulty.

            Girls showed significantly higher levels of on-task anxiety. They also showed significantly higher levels of anxiety on the MAQ. Boys had significantly higher self-efficacy ratings. Interestingly, 84% of the girls were distributed in the high and medium anxiety groups, while 84% of boys were in the low and medium groups.

            Students in the low anxiety group consistently rated their friends as having higher anxiety than themselves. Alternatively, students in the high anxiety group consistently rated their friends as having lower anxiety. These findings are substantiated by the social network data. An example of the social network documented at one of the participating schools is represented in Figure 1. Further discussion will comment on patterns of anxiety and motivation within such networks.

Interpretations

            These findings reveal that students' mathematics anxiety profile (i.e., high, medium or low) was related to levels of motivation in mathematics. For this particular sample, gender was also important in distinguishing levels of mathematics anxiety and motivation. Anxiety group membership had further implications for students’ perceptions of their friends’ anxiety. This finding, in addition to those arising from the social network information, illustrates the important role of peers in situating students’ anxiety towards mathematics. Future stages of this research will apply more sophisticated modelling techniques. These types of analyses will allow us to observe if peer socialization protects against, and/or reinforces mathematics anxiety for the individual student. Findings encourage investigation of the social context in adolescent educational research and further support theoretical perspectives which emphasize the social context in the development of students’ motivation and emotion.