Variables

Math Anxiety

In many studies, computer anxiety has been compared to math anxiety because of similarities between the two, and because the phenomenon of computer anxiety is more similar to other anxieties such as test anxiety than it is to a clinical phobia. The concern about the relationship between math anxiety and computer anxiety has been prompted in part because of the possibility that should there be a connection between these two, then all those who have been determined to have math anxiety, would also expect to be computer anxious. To further explain anxiety as it relates to math or to computer use, it is necessary to determine if it is trait anxiety or state anxiety:

Trait anxiety refers to relatively stable individual differences in anxiety-proneness, that is, to differences between people in the tendency to perceive stressful situations as dangerous or threatening, and to respond to such situations with elevations in the intensity of their state anxiety reactions. State anxiety is situational; it results directly from some stress-producing situation during a finite period of time. (Leso, 1992, p. 469)

In the Leso and Peck study, computer anxiety is generally thought to be state anxiety and therefore apt to change over time with various interventions or with successful computer experience. This research does note, however, that "The stronger the anxiety trait, the more probable that the individual will experience more intense elevations in state anxiety in a threatening situation" (Leso, 1992, p. 469). Math anxiety, (MA) on the other hand is thought to be a trait anxiety and as pointed out in the Todman and Lawrenson research, MA was higher for females. This study notes that "The results were interpreted as encouraging indications of the absence of a strong link between CA and MA, with the former showing signs of reduction as early experience with computers becomes the norm" (Todman, 1992, p. 63). Evidence of a link between math anxiety and computer anxiety appears to be much stronger in the Maurer study which refers to several different computer anxiety testing instruments, including the Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale (MARS), the Computer Anxiety Rating Scale (CARS), the Computer Attitude Scale, the Fennema-Sherman scale, all of which found a strong relationship between computer anxiety and math anxiety: "These studies tend to verify the assumption that many researchers have made that math anxiety and computer anxiety are related constructs. They also tend to support the claim that computer anxiety and math anxiety are not identical constructs" (Maurer, 1994, p. 373). In trying to establish relationships between CA and MA, as with the relationships between other variables, it is not surprising that studies vary in the results obtained because of the various instruments or materials used, type of subjects tested, type of class associated with the measurement of anxiety making it difficult to draw conclusions or generalize. Whether or not a relationship exists between MA and CA, it is important to understand the development of this type of anxiety, which variables affect it or have the clearest relationship to CA.