2 What Causes Math Anxiety?

Math anxiety is more than just a fear of numbers, it is a complex emotional response that can affect a learner’s confidence, performance, and long-term attitude towards mathematics. Understanding the roots of math anxiety is essential for creating effective interventions and nurturing math confidence in children. Research shows that math anxiety can develop early and be influenced by a combination of cognitive, emotional, social, and environmental factors.

1. Negative Early Experiences – Many students trace their math anxiety to early classroom experiences where they felt embarrassed, confused, or unsupported. Timed tests, public mistakes, and one-size-fits-all instruction can cause students to associate math with shame or failure. These formative moments can leave lasting impressions, shaping a child’s self-concept as a “non-math person.”
2. Parental and Teacher Attitudes – Children are highly sensitive to the emotions and beliefs of the adults around them. If parents, or teachers express anxiety about math or frame it as a subject that is only for certain people, students may internalize these messages. Research by Çarkoğlu, Eason, and Purpura (2023) highlights the Parent-Child Math Anxiety Network, showing that parental anxiety can transfer to children trough emotional tone, expectations, and modeling behaviour.
3. Cognitive Load and Working Memory Strain – Math anxiety can reduce the brain’s ability to process and store information during problem-solving. According to researchers like Beilock and Maloney (2015), anxious thoughts compete for space in working memory, making it harder to concentrate, follow procedures, or recall facts. This mental overload can lead to performance setbacks and reinforce the belief that the student is “bad at math.”
4. High- Stakes Environments – Environments that emphasize speed, competition, and correctness over understanding and process can intensify math anxiety. When students are judged primarily on right answers rather than strategies, perseverance, or reasoning, they may begin to view mistakes as personal failures instead of learning opportunities. Over time, this fear of being wrong can inhibit risk-taking and creativity in math.
5. Cultural Stereotypes and Identity Threat – Cultural messages that link math success to gender, race, or fixed intelligence can contribute to feelings of inadequacy and self-doubt. Stereotype threat, a fear of confirming a negative stereotype, has been shown to impair math performance, especially among girls and minority students. these messages can silently shape a student’s belief about who “belongs” in math.
6. Lack of Conceptual Understanding – When students are taught procedures without deep conceptual understanding, they may struggle to make sense of the “why” behind the math. As content becomes more complex, these gapes in understanding can widen, leaving students feeling lost and anxious. Without a strong foundation, even capable learners may come to doubt their abilities.

Recognizing the multifaceted causes of math anxiety helps us move away from blame and toward empathy and action. By shifting classroom culture, equipping parents with tools to support learning, and using low-pressure, inclusive strategies, we can help students rewrite their math stories, and build the confidence they need to succeed.