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This study aims to improve current understanding of how the relationship between perceived math ability and math achievement may be mediated or moderated by levels of anxiety about math, considering intellectual abilities, gender, and school year. In this study, participants were 2,245 Spanish students (7th to 10th grade). All completed the FennemaSherman Mathematics Attitudes Scales and the Sternberg Triarchic Abilities Test. The main results showed that (i) perceivedcompetence is a potent predictor of achievement (the higher the perceived competence, the better the performance in mathematics), (ii) anxiety about mathematics significantly mediates the relationship between perceived competence and math achievement (although the effect is small), and (iii) levels of anxiety condition the intensity of the effect of perceived competence on math achievement (at high levels of anxiety the effect size of the relationship between perceived competence and achievement is large, whereas at low levels of anxiety the effect is small).

This study aimed to examine longitudinal relationships among perceived teacher support, intrinsic motivation for math, and math learning outcomes. Focusing on gender differences among high-achieving adolescents, we explored whether there were significant differences in the levels of research variables and the associations among them. Data from 639 high-achieving students (boys 57.2%, girls 42.8%) from 150 schools in South Korea were analyzed using MANOVA, univariate t-tests, and multi-group SEM analysis. We found that high-achieving girls consistently displayed longer study hours and excelled in 12th-grade CSAT math scores. In contrast, high-achieving boys perceived more profound teacher support, contributing to enhanced intrinsic motivation during the earlier stages of learning. However, as students progressed, the intrinsic motivation converged across genders. While the impact of intrinsic motivation on 12th-grade CSAT math scores was universal across genders, distinct gender disparities persisted in the relationships between the studied variables. Theoretical and practical implications suggest that tailored approaches addressing these gender variations can optimize academic outcomes. Nonetheless, certain limitations, including the imbalanced gender distribution and the specific South Korean context, call for caution in generalizing these findings.

Motivational aspects in reading, math, science and physical education are often studied on whole samples and not grouped into different classes. In our study we wish to investigate cross-sectional data across classes. Our research question wishes to investigate what class differences are there in school subject-based well-being and perceived competence? A total of 378 Icelandic pupils in classes 1–9 did answer a survey with nine items, focusing on how are you feeling at school, how do you like and how are you doing in reading, math, science and physical education. There were 163 girls (43%), and 202 boys (53%) ranging from 6 to 15 years of age (M = 10.86, SD = 2.57). The findings, for the whole sample, indicate that girls tend to like reading more than boys do. Additionally, girls feel that they are better in science compared to boys, while boys like physical education more than girls. In terms of classes, multiple items, including reading, math and science, indicated class differences, where higher classes (i.e., eighth and ninth class) tend to have lower average scores in how much they liked a certain topic, and how competent they felt. It is also of great interest that the correlation between ‘how do you like’ and ‘how are you doing’ are 0.53, 0.71, 0.66 and 0.66 for reading, math, science and physical activity, respectively. Well-being and perceived competence in all subjects correlate with each other, and well-being at school. This shows the importance of seeing the school as a holistic system, where experiences related to individual subjects coincide with the overall experience (and vice versa). The results are discussed in relation to self-perception, motivation and practice.

Adolescents face many barriers on the path towards a STEM profession, especially girls. We examine the gender stereotypes, cognitive abilities, self-perceived ability and intrinsic values of 546 Russian school children from 12 to 17 years old by sex and STEM preferences. In our sample, STEM students compared to no-STEM have higher cognitive abilities, intrinsic motivation towards math and science, are more confident in their math abilities and perceive math as being easier. Boys scored higher in science, math and overall academic self-efficacy, intrinsic learning motivation and math’s importance for future careers. Meanwhile, girls displayed higher levels of gender stereotypes related to STEM and lower self-efficacy in math. A network analysis was conducted to identify the structure of psychological traits and the position of the stem-related stereotypes among them. The analysis arrived at substantially different results when adolescents were grouped by sex or preference towards STEM. It also demonstrated that gender stereotypes are connected with cognitive abilities, with a stronger link in the no-STEM group. Such stereotypes play a more important role for girls than boys and, jointly with the general self-efficacy of cognitive and academic abilities, are associated with the factors that distinguish groups of adolescents in their future careers.

One hundred and fifty-five students (average age of 127 months) were tested using the WRAT-3 reading and arithmetic subtests, the Self-Perception Profile for Children with Learning Disabilities (SPPLD) and the Children’s Depression Inventory (CDI). One year later they were again tested with the same instruments. The authors hypothesised that increases in depressive symptoms would lead to lowered performance in reading and arithmetic, over and above any changes in performance due to self-perceived competence in those areas. Although academic self-concept scores did not account for any significant variation in academic growth/decline, CDI scores did account for a small but significant portion of variance in academic score changes. Depressive symptoms, even at nonpatho-logic levels, are able to affect academic performance over time.