Wigfield and Meece ( 1988) found two separate dimensions of mathematics anxiety in sixth graders and secondary school students and found two different dimensions: cognitive and affective, similar to those that had been previously identified in the area of test anxiety by Liebert and Morris ( 1967). Mathematics anxiety has been defined as “a feeling of tension and anxiety that interferes with the manipulation of numbers and the solving of mathematical problems in … ordinary life and academic situations” (Richardson and Suinn, 1972).Īlthough, many studies treat mathematics anxiety as a single entity, it appears to consist of more than one component. Many studies over the years have indicated that many people have extremely negative attitudes to mathematics, sometimes amounting to severe anxiety (Hembree, 1990 Ashcraft, 2002 Maloney and Beilock, 2012). It is important to understand children's and adults' attitudes and emotions with regard to mathematics if we are to remove important barriers to learning and progress in this subject.

Also, while there are nowadays few gender differences in actual mathematical performance in countries that provide equal educational opportunity for boys and girls, females at all ages still tend to rate themselves lower in mathematics and to experience greater anxiety about mathematics than do males. On the whole, studies suggest that attitudes to mathematics tend to deteriorate with age during childhood and adolescence (Wigfield and Meece, 1988 Ma and Kishor, 1997), which has negative implications for mathematical development, mathematics education and adult engagement in mathematics-related activities. A substantial number of children and adults have mathematics anxiety, which may severely disrupt their mathematical learning and performance, both by causing avoidance of mathematical activities and by overloading and disrupting working memory during mathematical tasks. But not all mathematical disabilities result from cognitive difficulties. Some aspects of mathematics appear to be cognitively difficult for many people to acquire and some people have moderate or severe specific mathematical learning disabilities. This topic has received increasing focus in recent years, the ever-increasing importance of quantitative reasoning in a variety of educational and occupational situations, ranging from school examinations to management of personal finances. Low achievement and low participation in mathematics are matters of concern in many countries for example, recent concerns in the UK led to the establishment of the National Numeracy organization in 2012.

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