Math anxiety and careers among bilingual Latinos
Date
2008
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Abstract
Latinos do not enter particular occupational fields at the same rate than other ethnic groups and certainly continue to be underrepresented in math, science, and engineering (MSE) fields. Although math anxiety has been widely studied as a variable influencing MSE careers among European-American college students, such information is lacking for bilingual Latino college students. The first objective of the study was to create and psychometrically evaluate a Spanish-language Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale-Short Version (MARS-SV) and to compare it with the English-language MARS-SV in relation to mathematics performance and mathematics avoidance behaviors. The second objective involved an exploratory analysis of possible variables which could have an effect on bilingual Latino students' choice of MSE college majors and careers. Predictors explored included: (1) past failure experiences with math, (2) inadequate preparation for math majors/careers, (3) math being perceived as stressful, (4) lack of guidance towards majors/careers in math, (5) lack of interest in math majors/careers, (6) value of math-related majors/careers for the future, and (7) general dislike for math. Results suggest that the newly created Spanish-language MARS-SV has good internal reliability, is highly correlated with, and showed similar norms to the English MARS-SV. A principal components analysis with varimax rotation also demonstrated a similar factorial structure to that described in previous literature for the English-language version. The study found that overall math anxiety did not appear to be related to math performance although a ceiling effect in math performance was observed for the sample used. A small, but significant correlation was observed between math anxiety and MSE-related college major avoidance. However, math anxiety was not associated with number of math courses participants completed in high school or college, or were planning on taking in college, and no differences were found between high math anxious and low math anxious students in regard to number of math courses completed in high school or college, and planning on completing in college. A logistic regression model significantly predicted MSE major and career choice, these included perceiving math as stressful, perceived value for the future, and lack of guidance in math, and finally, lack of interest predicted MSE career, but not MSE major.
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Subject
bilinguals
careers
careers Latinos/Hispanic
Hispanic
Latinos
Latinos/Hispanic
math anxiety
math careers
math rating scale
mathematics anxiety rating scale-short version