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A negative correlation between math anxiety and mathematics performance is frequently reported, thus, some may assume that very high levels of mathematics anxiety are associated with very poor mathematical understanding.However, no previous research has clearly measured the association between mathematics anxiety and mathematical learning disability.In order to fill this gap here we investigated the comorbidity of developmental dyscalculia (a selective, serious deficit in mathematical performance) and mathematics anxiety in a sample of 1757 primary (8-to 9-year-old) and secondary (12-to 13-year-old) school children.We found that children with developmental dyscalculia were twice as likely to have high mathematics anxiety as children with typical mathematics performance.More girls had comorbid mathematics anxiety and developmental dyscalculia than boys.However, 77% of children with high mathematics anxiety had typical or high mathematics performance.Our findings suggest that cognitive and emotional mathematics problems largely dissociate and call into question the assumption that mathematics anxiety is exclusively linked to poor mathematics performance.Different intervention methods need to be developed to prevent and treat emotional and cognitive blocks of mathematical development.
Devine et al. (Thu,) studied this question.