Influence of Socio-Economic Status and Classroom Climate on Mathematics Anxiety of Primary School Pupils

The study investigated the influence of socio-economic status and classroom climate on mathematics anxiety of pupils in Nsukka Local Government Primary Education Authority of Enugu State, Nigeria. Three research questions and three null hypotheses guided the study. Expost-facto research design was used, the study made use of 103 public primary schools with a population of 12628 primary five pupils in Nsukka Local Government Primary Education Authority of Enugu State, Nigeria. The sample was 432 primary five pupils. The instrument used for the study was a questionnaire with three clusters, SES, CCS and MAS. The Cronbach Alpha Reliability yielded 0.82, 0.79 and 0.89 respectively. Research questions were analyzed using mean and standard deviation while the hypotheses were tested using analysis of variance (ANOVA) Statistics, post-hoc test and t-test analysis at 0.05 probability level. It was found that socio-economic status and classroom climate significantly influence mathematics anxiety of the pupils. It was recommended among others, that caregivers, parents, teachers and school administrators should create enabling physical, emotional, intellectual and social classroom climate to ensure successful teaching and learning and enhanced interest of students in all subjects especially in mathematics. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.