Mathematics-Anxiety and Self-Efficacy of Junior High School Students: Is There a Gender Gap?

Several studies have attempted to investigate the influence of gender differences on aspects of mathematics-anxiety (MA) and self-efficacy (SE) at various levels of education. However, exploration focusing on junior high school students is still limited, so it is important to understand how these dynamics develop at that level of education. Therefore, to overcome the gap, this study aims to investigate the influence of gender differences on MA and SE junior high school students. The type of research used is quantitative research with a comparative causal method. The population is all students in grades VII, VIII, and IX in one of the private junior high schools in Central Java. The sample of this study is 79 students, consisting of 39 male students and 40 female students. The sampling technique is stratified random sampling with strata based on grade level (VII, VIII, IX). The data collection technique used a questionnaire about MA and SE. Data analysis techniques using Hotelling's T^2 to test the significance of the differences in MA and SE aspects based on gender simultaneously and the Independent Sample T-test to test the significance of gender differences in each variable separately. Hotelling's T^2 test showed a significant influence of gender differences on MA and SE simultaneously. The Independent Sample T-test found that the female group was more anxious than the male and there was no significant difference in their SE. Therefore, it can be concluded that there is a gender gap in MA, but not in SE.