The Interplay between Math and Reading Anxiety and Academic Skills in Primary School: A Longitudinal Study
Year: 2025
Type: preprint
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: The early school years are a crucial period for the development of foundational mathematics and reading skills, as well as academic anxieties. Understanding how achievement and anxiety are related during this period is essential for supporting children's academic success and well-being. This study examined the early development of mathematics and reading achievement and anxiety and their within- and across-domain associations from Grades 2 to 3. A Finnish sample of 800 children (409 girls) was assessed in Grade 2 (N = 668) and Grade 3 (N = 711) using standardized tests for reading and arithmetic fluency, while self-evaluation questionnaires measured reading and math anxiety. The longitudinal model revealed within-domain stability for reading and arithmetic fluency and for reading and math anxiety as well as within-domain predictive effects from skill to anxiety. Only one significant positive cross-domain path was found, that from reading fluency to arithmetic fluency. No gender differences were found in the longitudinal associations between skills and anxiety and controlling for parental education or child age did not change the results. The developmental dynamics between anxiety and skill thus appear to run from skills to anxiety and be domain-specific early on.
Language: English
Subfield: Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: gold
OpenAlex ID: W4414575354
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