Mathematics: I don't like it! I like it! Very much, a little, not at all... Social support and emotions in students from 2nd and 3rd cycles of education

Abstract

This research analyses achievement emotions and their relationship to perceived classroom support (teacher and peers) as well as the effects of grade, achievement and gender on emotions in a specific subject domain: mathematics. The participants were 1,494 Portuguese students from the sixth and eighth grades who were asked about their perceptions of teacher and peer support and their achievement emotions towards mathematics (Boredom, Hopelessness, Anger, Anxiety, Enjoyment, Pride and Relief) in two different settings (classroom and test). Results provide empirical evidence that student perceptions of classroom support were positively related to positive activating emotions and negatively related to negative emotions. Furthermore students with higher mathematics grades were found to have higher scores in positive emotions and lower scores in negative emotions in both classroom and test situations.  A decrease in positive emotions and an increase of negative emotions in older students were also found. In regard to gender the analysis highlighted that positive class emotions were not significantly different, and show a significant effect on Anxiety with girls achieving higher scores than boys. In the test situation gender had a significant effect on Hopelessness, Anxiety and Relief, with girls showing higher scores than boys. For positive test emotions boys reported more Enjoyment and Pride than girls.