Mathematics anxiety determinants and coping strategies among secondary school students: A mixed methods research

Source abstract

This study set out to determine the mathematics anxiety levels of secondary school students in Kazakhstan, to examine how this anxiety relates to variables such as gender, grade level, mathematics course grade, and daily study time, and to capture students’ own accounts of what causes their anxiety, how they cope with it, and how they perceive their teachers’ role in it. A convergent parallel mixed-methods design was adopted, with data collected during the 2025-2026 academic year from 353 students across grades 9 through 12 using the brief math anxiety scale alongside a set of open-ended items. Quantitative data were analyzed through t-tests, and analysis of variance, while the open-ended responses were examined using content analysis. The results show that most students (71.7%) reported low levels of mathematics anxiety, with no significant differences emerging by gender or daily study time; ninth-grade students, however, scored significantly higher than upper-grade students on both the numerical task anxiety and math course anxiety subscales. According to the qualitative findings, fear of failure and difficulty grasping mathematical concepts were the anxiety sources students mentioned most often, and the coping strategy they relied on most was simply studying harder or seeking help. A supportive teacher, meanwhile, emerged as the factor students most closely associated with lower anxiety. Taken together, these findings point to several practical steps: early screening as students move into ninth grade, counseling programs that build emotion-focused coping skills rather than relying solely on academic remediation, and greater emphasis in teacher training on creating a supportive classroom climate.