The Academic Anxiety Inventory: Evidence for Dissociable Patterns of Anxiety Related to Math and Other Sources of Academic Stress

Anxiety about mathematics can have detrimental effects on performance and understanding, yet little research has investigated how math anxiety is related to other types of anxiety. Here we develop the Academic Anxiety Inventory (AAI), an efficient and valid self-report measure designed to test math anxiety, as well as differentiate anxiety associated with mathematics from other contributions of anxiety across various academic domains. In Study 1, we isolated items that independently measure each domain of anxiety, reducing the overlapping variance between math anxiety and other constructs, and determining which components can or cannot be differentiated. Studies 2 and 3 demonstrate that the AAI is consistent and reliable for undergraduate and adolescent populations. In Study 3, anxiety-related performance deficits in a high school math class were associated with scores the AAI-Math subscale. In Study 4, the AAI-Math subscale was associated with perceptions of increased mathematical complexity, decreased estimations of accuracy, and increased negative emotion when participants viewed mathematical expressions. Across four studies, we demonstrate the AAI is a reliable and valid measure of math anxiety and other domains of academic anxiety, providing an efficient questionnaire to determine areas in which students may require extra support in order to reach their full potential.