Mathematics anxiety has long been recognized as an important affective factor influencing students’ engagement with mathematics, yet its role in explaining cross-national differences in achievement remains insufficiently explored. This paper examines the relationship between mathematics anxiety and mathematics performance using data from PISA 2022, in which mathematics was the major assessment domain. The analysis covers 80 participating countries and economies and applies the official PISA sampling weights to ensure valid international comparisons.
Mathematics anxiety is measured through six questionnaire items capturing students’ feelings of worry, nervousness, and tension when dealing with mathematics tasks and assessments. These items are combined by the PISA consortium into a standardized index of mathematics anxiety. Using country-specific regression models, we analyse the association between mathematics anxiety and student performance while controlling for key background factors, including immigrant background, socio-economic resources in the home, and gender.
Across most countries, mathematics anxiety shows a clear and substantial negative association with mathematics achievement. The results also reveal systematic gender differences in reported anxiety and considerable variation across countries in the strength of this relationship. Incorporating mathematics anxiety into the models increases explanatory power in many national samples.
By comparing these patterns internationally, the study highlights how psychological factors contribute to educational outcomes and demonstrates the importance of considering affective dimensions—such as anxiety—when interpreting international assessments and designing policies to improve mathematics learning.

Authors:
Hans Bay, Copenhagen University, Denmark
Anders Milhoej, University of Copenhagen, Denmark

About the Presenter(s)
Hans Bay is Associate Professor at the University of Copenhagen with over 40 years of experience in applied statistics and survey methodology. He has led major international assessments, including PISA and ESS, and his research focuses on statistical

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https://www.linkedin.com/in/hans-bay-7b4b015

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