Mathematics Anxiety, Motivation and The Basic Psychological Needs from the Perspective of Self-Determination Theory

The purpose of this study is to explore the effects of students’ basic psychological needs on motivational regulations towards mathematics and mathematics anxiety levels. This study was conducted with 440 tenth grade high school students in Bolu who took mathematics courses during the 2010-2011 academic year. Data were collected through Mathematics Anxiety Scale and the Basic Psychological Needs and Academic Self-Regulation Scales which were adapted to Turkish language and mathematics education. According to the regression analyses, the basic psychological needs effected all the dimensions of motivational regulations with a degree of significance. Moreover, the basic psychological needs had an effect of mathematics anxiety which the effect of autonomy was significant. These results indicate that students’ basic psychological needs should be supported in order to encourage them to give autonomous decisions in terms of their motivation towards mathematics and reduce their mathematics anxiety levels.