ERIC Number: EJ1447534
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2024-Oct
Pages: 11
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0965-948X
EISSN: EISSN-2396-9571
Exploring Statistics Anxiety and Self-Efficacy in Psychology Undergraduate Students
Victoria J. Bourne; Paige L. Clarke; Amie Felton; Maria Iliopoulou; Oleg Maksimenko
Psychology Teaching Review, v30 n2 p17-27 2024
Statistics anxiety is experienced by a large proportion of psychology students, even though conducting statistical analyses is a fundamental skill for students to acquire. The research on statistics anxiety has tended to explore either dispositional factors (e.g. personality) or situational factors (e.g. teacher effects). One potential predictor that has not yet been considered is statistical self-efficacy; the belief that one can successfully complete statistical tasks. The present study aims to clarify whether statistical self-efficacy is a predictor of any aspects of statistics anxiety in psychology students. In this study 100 undergraduate students (89% female identifying), in the second and third (final) year of a psychology degree in the UK, completed the Statistics Anxiety Rating Scale (STARS), the Statistics Self-efficacy scale (SSE), and a measure of trait anxiety. A hierarchical regression showed a significant negative relationship between statistical self-efficacy and all aspects of statistics anxiety, showing that students who are more confident in their statistical skills experience less statistics anxiety. Findings are discussed in relation to both understanding statistics anxiety and developing interventions to alleviate statistics anxiety, such as mentoring for students with diagnosed clinical anxiety conditions or interventions that aim to improve a student's self-efficacy.
Descriptors: Statistics, College Mathematics, Self Efficacy, Psychology, Undergraduate Students, Undergraduate Study, Mathematics Anxiety, Student Attitudes, Foreign Countries, Mental Health, Gender Differences, Academic Achievement, Anxiety, Individual Differences
British Psychological Society, Division for Teachers & Researchers in Psychology. St Andrews House, 48 Princess Road East, Leicester, LE1 7DR, UK. Tel: +44-1162-529551; Fax: +44-1162-271314; e-mail: directmail@bps.org.uk; Web site: https://www.bps.org.uk/publications/psychology-teaching-review
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: United Kingdom
Identifiers - Assessments and Surveys: State Trait Anxiety Inventory
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A