Assessing mathematics anxiety with the AMAS: Measurement invariance across four countries

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Educational Psychology
• Cross-cultural Psychology

Background:

• Mathematics Anxiety (MA) impacts academic success and daily life.
• The Abbreviated Math Anxiety Scale (AMAS) is a common tool for measuring MA.
• Cross-cultural measurement invariance of the AMAS is not yet established.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the cross-cultural measurement invariance of the AMAS.
• To determine if AMAS items are perceived similarly across different cultures.
• To assess the suitability of AMAS for cross-cultural comparisons of MA.

Main Methods:

• Utilized data from 3610 university students across the UK, Germany, Italy, and Poland.
• Employed statistical methods to test for measurement invariance of the AMAS.
• Examined the impact of different estimation methods on invariance results.

Main Results:

• Found evidence of partial measurement invariance for the AMAS.
• Identified one item (item 8) as being perceived differently across the studied countries.
• Demonstrated that measurement invariance results are sensitive to the chosen statistical estimator.

Conclusions:

• Partial measurement invariance supports meaningful cross-cultural comparisons of latent MA factor means using the AMAS.
• The selection of the estimation method significantly influences psychometric study conclusions.
• Emphasizes the necessity of testing for cross-group measurement invariance in cross-cultural research.