Math anxiety is a widespread problem for children and adolescents worldwide. However, the psychological trait of math anxiety is poorly understood. The present study aimed to examine the psychological construct of math anxiety among social-emotional attitudes. A total of 28,726 students, including 17,378 fourth graders and 11,348 eighth graders, were selected from the Qingdao Basic Education Quality Assessment database using multi-stage cluster random sampling. There were 10 questionnaires assessing social-emotional attitudes in the database. Pearson's correlation analyses were performed to examine the intercorrelations between social-emotional attitudes and mathematical performance. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted to examine the psychological structure of these 10 social-emotional attitudes. After controlling for other social-emotional attitudes, math anxiety had a weak but significant correlation to mathematical performance in most subtests across grades. Among three-factor, four-factor, and five-factor EFA models, math anxiety was an independent factor that was separate from other social-emotional attitudes across six parallel subtests in grades four and eight. Math anxiety is a stable and independent psychological construct that is separate from other social-emotional attitudes. It suggests that math anxiety should be considered as a distinct anxiety disorder specific to mathematical learning in subsequent versions of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

中文翻译：

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数学焦虑作为社会情绪态度中的独立心理结构：探索性因素分析

数学焦虑是全世界儿童和青少年普遍存在的问题。然而，人们对数学焦虑的心理特征知之甚少。本研究旨在检验社交情绪态度中数学焦虑的心理结构。采用多阶段整群随机抽样的方法，从青岛市基础教育质量评价数据库中抽取了28726名学生，其中四年级学生17378人，八年级学生11348人。数据库中有 10 份评估社会情感态度的问卷。进行 Pearson 的相关分析以检查社交情绪态度与数学成绩之间的相互关系。进行了探索性因素分析 (EFA) 以检查这 10 种社会情感态度的心理结构。在控制了其他社交情绪态度后，数学焦虑与跨年级大多数分测验的数学成绩具有微弱但显着的相关性。在三因素、四因素和五因素 EFA 模型中，数学焦虑是一个独立因素，在四年级和八年级的六个平行子测试中与其他社交情绪态度分开。数学焦虑是一种稳定且独立的心理结构，与其他社会情感态度不同。这表明，在后续版本的《精神障碍诊断与统计手册》中，数学焦虑症应被视为数学学习特有的一种独特的焦虑症。在四因素和五因素全民教育模型中，数学焦虑是一个独立因素，与四年级和八年级六个平行分测验中的其他社交情绪态度分开。数学焦虑是一种稳定且独立的心理结构，与其他社会情感态度不同。这表明，在后续版本的《精神障碍诊断与统计手册》中，数学焦虑症应被视为数学学习特有的一种独特的焦虑症。在四因素和五因素全民教育模型中，数学焦虑是一个独立因素，与四年级和八年级六个平行分测验中的其他社交情绪态度分开。数学焦虑是一种稳定且独立的心理结构，与其他社会情感态度不同。这表明，在后续版本的《精神障碍诊断与统计手册》中，数学焦虑症应被视为数学学习特有的一种独特的焦虑症。