A network psychometric analysis of maths anxiety factors in Italian psychology students

2025-03-03

AI Summary

This study addresses the inadequate cultural adaptation of the English Mathematics Anxiety Scale (MAS-UK) for Italian psychology students by developing and validating a localized version, the MAS-IT. Employing rigorous forward–backward translation, cross-cultural validation, and advanced structural analyses—including confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and exploratory graph analysis (EGA)—the study found that the original three-factor model exhibited poor fit in the Italian sample. Notably, EGA revealed, for the first time in this population, a stable four-factor structure, with the “anxiety from passive observation” factor demonstrating cross-method stability. These findings challenge the widely accepted three-factor consensus and underscore the substantive influence of cultural context on the dimensional expression of mathematics anxiety. The study thus provides empirical evidence and a methodological framework for culturally responsive psychometric scale development.

Technology Category

• Cognitive Modeling & Cognitive Systems: Adaptive Behavior
• Application Domains: Humanities & Computational Social Science
• Machine Learning: Matrix & Tensor Methods

Application Category

• Security and Privacy: Large-scale security measurements
• User Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: Practical large-scale studies of user experience
• Web Mining and Content Analysis: Robustness and generalizability of Web mining methods

Abstract

Dealing with mathematics can induce significant anxiety, strongly affecting psychology students' academic performance and career prospects. This phenomenon is known as maths anxiety and several scales can measure it. Most scales were created in English and abbreviated versions were translated and validated among Italian populations (e.g. Abbreviated Maths Anxiety Scale). This study translated the 3-factor MAS-UK scale in Italian to produce a new tool, MAS-IT, validated specifically in a sample of Italian undergraduates enrolled in psychology or related BSc programmes. A sample of 324 Italian undergraduates completed the MAS-IT. The data were analysed using confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), testing the original MAS-UK 3-factor model. CFA results revealed that the original MAS-UK 3-factor model did not fit the Italian data. A subsequent Exploratory Graph Analysis (EGA) identified 4 distinct components/factors of maths anxiety detected by MAS-IT. The items relative to"Passive Observation maths anxiety"factor remained stable across the analyses, whereas"Evaluation maths anxiety"and"Everyday/Social maths anxiety"items showed a reduced or poor item stability. Quantitative findings indicated potential cultural or contextual differences in the expression of maths anxiety in today's psychology undergraduates, underlining the need for more appropriate tools to be used among psychology students.

Problem

• Developed MAS-IT to measure maths anxiety in Italian psychology students
• Identified 4 distinct factors of maths anxiety using EGA
• Highlighted cultural differences in maths anxiety expression among students

Innovation

• Translated MAS-UK scale to Italian as MAS-IT
• Used Confirmatory Factor Analysis for validation
• Identified 4 factors via Exploratory Graph Analysis