BECE. Newsletter 

Vol.18, No.2, 2024, BECE 1921 

 

 

 

 

The Relationship between Mathematics Anxiety and 

Mathematics Performance in Chinese Basic Education 

Students: A Meta-Analysis Based on 68 Papers in 

Chinese 

By Liu, Y., Hu, H., & Guo, K. 
Correspondence to: Kan Guo, Beijing Normal University, China. E-mail: 

guokan@bnu.edu.cn 

ATHEMATICS anxiety includes a variety of negative emotions, such 

as fear, tense, and worry, induced by the student’s math learning expe-

riences. According to existing literature, there is a stable negative correlation 

between student mathematics anxiety and mathematics performance, and the 

incidence of anxiety experience is the highest among all negative emotions in 

student math learning. Existing meta-analytical studies mainly draw on sam-

ples from Western countries with most research results inapplicable to the 

Chinese context. This study is an analysis based on 22 journal articles and 46 

theses in Chinese using the meta-analytic technique. It aims to examine the 

correlation between mathematics anxiety and mathematics performance in 

Chinese basic education students as well as the potential moderating factors.  

Research Findings: 

• There is a moderately negative correlation between mathematics 

anxiety and mathematics performance in Chinese basic education 

students at all levels, including primary, junior secondary, and 

senior secondary students. 

• There are regional differences in the correlation between student 

mathematics anxiety and mathematics performance with the cor-

relation in students in western regions being much stronger than 

that in students in eastern and central regions. 

• The type of the mathematics anxiety rating scale does not exhibit 

moderating effects on the relationship between student mathe-

matics anxiety and mathematics performance. 

• The negative correlation between student mathematics anxiety 

and mathematics performance is stronger in high-stakes tests 

than in non-high-stakes ones. 

Research Implications: 

• The Chinese mathematics education community should pay more 

attention to the pervasive issue of mathematics anxiety among 

basic education students as a high level of mathematics anxiety 

M 

mailto:guokan@bnu.edu.cn


 

Vol.18, No.2, 2024, BECE 1922 

and poor mathematics performance are both unfavorable for their 

long-term development. 

• The Double Reduction policy provides that the number of exam-

inations at the compulsory education level should be substantial-

ly reduced to alleviate the students’ academic anxiety. The provi-

sion deserves more serious consideration; its legitimacy is evi-

denced by the research results of this study. 

 
Source: Journal of Educational Studies, 2024; 20(2):165-178.