(MAL)ADAPTIVE COGNITIONS AS PREDICTORS OF STATISTICS ANXIETY
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.52041/serj.v21i1.364Keywords:
Statistics education research, Statistics anxiety, Teaching of statistics, Emotion regulation strategies, Psychological needs, AttitudesAbstract
A vast majority of social science students experience statistics anxiety in their statistics class, a course often perceived as the most difficult one of their academic paths. The present study examines the role of attitudes towards statistics, cognitive emotion regulation strategies, and satisfaction of psychological needs in the prediction of statistics anxiety as well as the contribution of gender onto statistics anxiety. Two hundred forty-two undergraduate social sciences students in Canada completed the study. Positive attitude towards statistics, fewer maladaptive emotion regulation strategies, and satisfaction of psychological needs were related to less statistics anxiety; adaptive emotion regulation strategies, however, were not. Furthermore, women experienced more statistics anxiety than men. Results provide insight about individual differences that may impact experiences of statistics anxiety and overall learning in the context of a statistics course.
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