German version of the math anxiety questionnaire (FRA) for 6-to 9-year-old children

Math anxiety is a relatively frequent phenomenon and often related to dyscalculia. Thus, a standardised instrument to detect math anxiety as early as possible would be useful. The FRA is the first German math anxiety questionnaire for primary school children (original version: Thomas & Dowker, 2000). Objectives: Is the FRA a reliable and valid instrument? Are there any gender differences concerning math anxiety? Are there any developmental changes in this regard in the course of the early grades? Methods: Together with the dyscalculia test TEDI-MATH (Kaufmann et al., in preparation), the FRA was presented to a total of 450 children from the first to the third grade of primary school (at least 40 girls and 40 boys per semester). Results: The total scale has an internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha) between 0.83 and 0.91. Correlations between arithmetic skills and the FRA scales were mostly significant. The significantly higher negative scores for girls were taken into account by providing standard scores corrected for gender. No systematic developmental changes could be observed. Conclusions: The FRA is the first German math anxiety questionnaire for primary school children. High reliability, standard scores corrected for gender, and economic handling make it an instrument well suited for use in clinical settings (e.g., dyscalculia diagnostics and intervention).