Examining the mediating roles of mathematics resilience and academic perfectionism in the relationship between mathematics anxiety and academic buoyancy

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the mediating roles of mathematics resilience and academic perfectionism in the relationship between mathematics anxiety and academic buoyancy among university students. The sample consisted of 422 tertiary-level students, including 314 males (74.4%) and 108 females (25.6%), studying at public and foundation universities in Türkiye (Mage = 20.76). Correlation analysis and structural equation modeling were conducted to examine the relationships among the variables. Correlation analyses indicated that academic buoyancy was negatively associated with mathematics anxiety and academic perfectionism, whereas it was positively associated with mathematics resilience. In addition, mathematics anxiety was positively associated with academic perfectionism and negatively associated with mathematics resilience. Furthermore, structural equation modeling revealed that mathematics resilience and academic perfectionism significantly mediated the relationship between mathematics anxiety and academic buoyancy. The direct effect of mathematics anxiety on academic buoyancy was found to be non-significant. These findings suggest that the relationship between mathematics anxiety and academic buoyancy is associated with multiple psychological mechanisms involving lower mathematics resilience and higher perfectionistic tendencies.