Math attitudes and verbal memory in multilingual younger adults

Previous research on attitudes towards mathematics has mostly been assessed in a single language. We examined whether math attitudes differ by language in multilingual younger adults (ages 18-25). Furthermore, we evaluated the relationships between math attitudes, verbal memory, and calculation fluency in this sample. Eighty-seven French-English multilingual young adults self-reported their math attitudes using the Mathematics Anxiety Scale-Revised (Bai et al., 2009) in both English and French. Participants also self-reported verbal memory, calculation fluency, and general language proficiency in English and French. Results showed that attitudes towards mathematics for English and French were similar. Exploratory factor analysis also confirmed that the extracted factors revealed negative and positive attitudes towards mathematics, with English and French items loading on the same factors. Correlation analysis showed a negative relationship between negative attitudes towards mathematics and verbal memory only in English. This relationship remained statistically significant after controlling for general language proficiency. However, neither positive nor negative math attitudes were correlated with calculation fluency. Building on the examination of symbolic representations of mathematical cognition by Campbell, results from the study were interpreted as the first step to investigating math attitudes in individuals with diverse linguistic backgrounds. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).