Do neurodivergent individuals have higher statistics and mathematics anxiety? Evaluating evidence from a large, multi-lab study

Anxiety is commonly experienced by neurodivergent individuals participating in Higher Education, related to both cognitive performance and academic achievement. Whereas certain anxieties in neurodivergence (e.g., social and general anxiety) have received much attention, scant research has considered mathematics and statistics anxiety. In this study, 1,383 university students (679 neurotypical, 704 neurodivergent individuals) – matched on age, gender, education level, and country of origin – completed measures assessing various types of anxiety (including mathematics and statistics anxiety), attitudes toward mathematics, self-efficacy, and cognitive reflection. Results showed that neurodivergent students exhibited higher anxiety levels across measures, including mathematics and statistics anxiety. However, only cognitive and somatic anxiety and social anxiety explained individual variance in neurodivergent status after taking into account the effects of other measures. Despite differing anxiety levels (which showed variability between different neurodivergences), neurodivergent and neurotypical students were equivalent in cognitive reflection scores, suggesting similar levels of analytic thinking skills (including reasoning about mathematical content). In both the neurotypical and neurodivergent groups, higher levels of cognitive reflection were associated with male gender, less fear of negative evaluation, and lower mathematics and creativity anxiety, replicating and extending previous work. Our findings have implications for instructors across sectors with respect to supporting neurodivergent individuals.