Mathematics anxiety and mathematical calculation in deaf children: A moderated mediation model of mathematics self-efficacy and intelligence.
Math anxiety drags down deaf students’ scores mainly by crushing their belief they can do it, and the damage is worse for kids with lower IQ.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Lilan et al. (2022) asked 160 deaf kids in grades 3-8 to fill out two short scales. One scale asked how nervous they feel about math. The other asked how sure they are that they can solve math problems.
Each child also took a quick IQ test and a 15-minute math quiz. The team then used number-crunching models to see if math anxiety hurts scores and if self-confidence and IQ change the picture.
What they found
Kids who said “math scares me” scored lower on the quiz. Most of that drop came from lower self-confidence, not IQ. For kids with weaker IQ scores, the anxiety-confidence-math link was extra strong.
How this fits with other research
MacLennan et al. (2020) saw the same chain in autistic kids: sensory overload raises specific fears. Both studies show anxiety does not act alone; it travels through a middle step.
Adams et al. (2025) found general anxiety predicts school refusal in autistic teens. Lilan’s team narrows the lens: math-specific anxiety steals math skills first.
Chen et al. (2020) also used a mediation model. They showed anxiety boosts suicidality through depression. Lilan swaps the endpoint to math scores and still finds anxiety → mediator → bad outcome.
Why it matters
If you teach deaf students, check math confidence as early as you check math facts. A five-question self-efficacy probe can flag kids who need calm-down tools before the worksheet even starts. Boosting confidence, not just re-teaching, may lift scores—especially for students with lower IQ.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: Previous studies have shown the relationship between mathematics anxiety and math performance in deaf students, but their inner influencing mechanism remains unclear. AIM: To examine a moderated mediation model between mathematics anxiety and mathematical calculation, with intelligence as a moderator, and mathematics self-efficacy as a mediator. METHODS: A sample of 247 deaf children from 2 special education schools and 247 hearing children (matched in intelligence) from one mainstream school in China completed computerized tests of intelligence and mathematical calculation and self-report questionnaires of mathematics anxiety and mathematics self-efficacy. Simple mediation analyses and moderated mediation analyses were conducted using PROCESS, and a simple slopes method was employed to plot the conditional indirect effects. RESULTS: There was a significant negative correlation between mathematics anxiety and mathematical calculation, and between mathematics anxiety and mathematics self-efficacy in deaf children and hearing children. However, mathematics self-efficacy was positively associated with mathematical calculation in deaf children but not in hearing children, and the significantly negative relationship between mathematics anxiety and intelligence was observed only in deaf children but not in hearing children. Mathematics self-efficacy partially mediated the association between mathematics anxiety and mathematical calculation in deaf children; and the indirect effect between mathematics anxiety and mathematical calculation via mathematics self-efficacy was moderated by intelligence in deaf children but not in hearing children. CONCLUSIONS: The results were discussed to illuminate the mechanism in relation to the practical implication for the intervention and early development of mathematics performance in deaf children.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2022 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2021.104125