Data for: The effects of maths anxiety, socioeconomic status, and mindset type on children's maths attainment

The data were collected as part of a PhD project that aimed to investigate the effects of maths anxiety, socioeconomic status and mindset type on children's maths attainment in the first years of school. These longitudinal data represent information collected from two consecutive cohorts of high- and low-socioeconomic status (SES) schoolchildren (Cohort 1 N = 202, Cohort 2 N = 218), their teachers (N = 58), and caregivers (Cohort 1 N = 112, Cohort 2 N = 125), over the children's first three years of formal schooling in Scottish primary schools. All data were collected in person. Children's measures of maths anxiety and growth mindset were collected using a combined questionnaire, presented to class groups using PowerPoint. Maths attainment was assessed using the numeracy and problem-solving subscales from WIAT-III (Wechsler, 2017). Numerical mapping skills were assessed using symbolic to non-symbolic, and non-symbolic to symbolic mapping tasks, at ratios of 1:2 and 2:3, presented individually on a laptop computer using PsychoPy2 (Peirce et al., 2019). Maths anxiety measures were collected from teachers and caregivers using the Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale (sMARS; Alexander & Martray, 1989). For full details of the method, see section 2.6 Main Study Method, from the thesis associated with this data set.

The longitudinal project spanned the COVID-19 pandemic. Children in Cohort 1 had completed a year and a half of schooling, so they were in their second year of school when the first wave of COVID disrupted their education, whereas Cohort 2 had completed only 7 months of schooling and were still in their first year of school. As the performance of both cohorts was similar in the first half of year 1, this dataset presents interesting comparative data for children before and after educational disruptions due to the pandemic.