Mathematics anxiety involves feelings of tension and anxiety when confronted by mathematical problems. It has been shown to have a significant effect on mathematical performance and learner wellbeing. Several measurements for Mathematics anxiety have been developed, enabling researchers to investigate both possible causes and effects of this construct.

Less researched is the construct of mathematics resilience. Borrowing from Psychology literature in general resilience, mathematics resilience is often described as a positive response to a negative, mathematics-related stimulus. Previous studies have investigated mathematics resilience as both an independent and dependent variable, contributing to a better understanding of the pedagogical value of developing mathematics resilience.

While some researchers investigated both mathematics anxiety and mathematics resilience in the same study, the relationships between these two constructs are still underexplored. The implication for education is significant, since it will affect the focus of interventions to either reduce anxiety or improve resilience (or both).

This study investigated the relationship between mathematics anxiety and mathematics resilience. It tested the wisdom of accepting the presence of mathematics anxiety as inevitable and instead focusing on improving mathematics resilience.

The unit of analysis was distant higher education students enrolled in a compulsory mathematics module for which high school Mathematics was not a requirement. By using Kooken, et al.’s (2015) Mathematics Resilience Scale (MRS), a factor analysis was used to test the original dimensions identified by the developers of the scale (value, struggle and growth). A version of the Mathematics Anxiety Scale (MAS)(Hunt et al., 2011), specifically adopted for higher education and the MRS, was used to measure the relationship between mathematics anxiety and mathematics resilience, as well as the relationship of each construct with academic performance.

The factor analysis confirmed the three dimensions of the MRS. Mathematics anxiety was, as expected, moderately negatively related to academic performance. Mathematics Resilience, on the other hand, was moderately positively related to academic performance. A significant, moderate relationship between mathematics anxiety and mathematics resilience existed, suggesting that these two constructs are not unrelated independent variables.

The results suggests that educational interventions should be focused on both reducing mathematics anxiety and improving mathematics resilience (instead of replacing one intervention with the other). The results also call for future studies to investigate the nature of the relationship between the two constructs to determine if one might, in fact, affect the other.

Keywords: Mathematics resilience, mathematics anxiety, mathematics education.