The Effect of Background Music on the Mathematics Test Anxiety of ...

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identified as loading heavily on Numerical Anxiety. For the remaining ten items
Ferguson created statements that he felt referred to abstract mathematics topics. <strong>The</strong>
population for the study consisted <strong>of</strong> 365 undergraduates enrolled in one <strong>of</strong> eighteen
randomly chosen mathematics classes at a large southwestern community college.
<strong>The</strong> results <strong>of</strong> the factor analysis listed the three components <strong>of</strong> mathematics
anxiety as mathematics test anxiety, numerical anxiety, and abstraction anxiety.
Ferguson defines abstraction anxiety as "the anxiety associated with specific mathematics
topics" (p. 149).
In a 1995 study, Bessant found six components <strong>of</strong> mathematics anxiety. An 80-
item version <strong>of</strong> MARS was used. Since this study was done at a Canadian university,
MARS items pertaining to the United States, such as miles and W-2 form, were deleted.
<strong>The</strong> 173 university students that participated were enrolled in one <strong>of</strong> three introductory
statistics courses. All participants completed a 35-item mathematics attitude scale and
the MARS. <strong>The</strong> six factors <strong>of</strong> math anxiety found in this study were general evaluation
anxiety, everyday numerical anxiety, passive observation anxiety, performance anxiety,
mathematics test anxiety, and problem-solving anxiety. (Bessant, 1995)
For a summary <strong>of</strong> these studies see Table 1 on page nine.