Anxiety as a mediator between preservice teachers' attitudes toward mathematics teaching and their self-efficacy beliefs

This study examined the complex relationship between primary school preservice teachers' attitudes toward mathematics teaching and their self-efficacy beliefs, specifically investigating the mediating role of mathematics teaching anxiety. Adopting a quantitative, correlational survey design, data were collected from 360 preservice teachers studying at six universities in Türkiye using a maximum variation sampling strategy. The "Mathematics Teaching Anxiety Scale," "Attitude Scale Toward Mathematics Teaching," and "Mathematics Teaching Self-Efficacy Beliefs Scale" were utilized for data collection, with all analyses conducted using Jamovi statistical software. The findings revealed a positive, significant relationship between preservice teachers' attitudes toward mathematics teaching and their self-efficacy perceptions. Conversely, there was a negative, significant relationship between attitudes and anxiety, indicating that more favorable attitudes are associated with lower levels of teaching anxiety. A further negative, significant relationship was established between anxiety and self-efficacy, suggesting that high anxiety is associated with lower teachers' perceived competence. Most critically, mathematics teaching anxiety was found to play a partial mediating role in the statistical association between attitude and self-efficacy. This statistical mediation indicates that positive attitudes are not only directly associated with higher self-efficacy but also indirectly related through their association with lower mathematics teaching anxiety experienced by the preservice teachers. These results underscore the importance of addressing emotional and psychological factors in teacher training. The study emphasizes the critical value of incorporating anxiety-reduction strategies and psychological support into teacher education programs to enhance professional competence and foster positive attitudes, which are vital for long-term student success in mathematics.