The Effects of Self-Regulation, Motivation, Anxiety, and Attributions on Mathematics Achievement for Fifth and Sixth Grade Students

For this quantitative study, a total of n = 761 students (58.1 % female) from selected fifth-and sixth-grade mathematics classrooms in Alabama were surveyed in order to investigate the relationships between self-reguIated learning, motivation, anxiety, attributions and achievement in mathematics. Data analyses revealed that significant contributions are made by motivation and anxiety on both test score and mathematics grade for fifth grade students. Specifc factors (e. g., self-eflcacy, worry, othel; and failure) were related to academic performance while failure attribution was signifcantly related to mathematics grade. As for sixth grade students, data analyses showed relationships exist between motivation, anxiety and academic performance with specific factors (i. e., self-efficacy, intrinsic value, and worry) significantly predicting both test score and mathematics grade for sixth graders. The findings underlie the importance of motivation and anxiety for students and how these constructs interact to facilitate self-regulation over the course of developing expertise in a domain, such as mathematics.