Associação entre habilidades sociais, regulação emocional e desempenho matemático no Ensino Fundamental

Abstract

Understanding the factors that predict academic performance in mathematics has been the subject of various research studies, as mathematical learning can be influenced by psychological, neuropsychological, emotional, physiological, interactional, and social factors. This dissertation aimed to investigate whether there is an association between the development of social abilities and emotion regulation with the mathematical performance of fifth-grade students in Elementary School. It was a study conducted in two municipal schools in the city of Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, involving 54 participants, 28 males and 26 females, aged 10 to 13 years old. The research utilized a quantitative, exploratory explanatory approach and comprised three studies to address the research objective. Study I: An integrative review explored how research debates the association of emotion regulation in controlling individuals' Math Anxiety index. Study II: An empirical investigation aimed to explore the association between Emotion regulation and Math Anxiety in fifth-grade children, revealing negative correlations between the use of Fear and Anger Regulation Strategies and Anxiety in general mathematics, negative correlation between Fear Regulation Strategies and Anxiety in mathematics homework, negative correlation between the Harmful nature of fear and Anxiety in written calculations, and three positive correlations between Total Score, Anger, and Fear as causal factors with Anxiety in written calculations. Study III: An empirical study examined the association between working memory, social abilities, emotion regulation, math anxiety, and academic performance of fifth-grade students. Results showed that women have higher levels of math anxiety in general and in written calculations, while men have greater emotion regulation strategies for Sadness. A positive correlation was found between working memory and performance in mathematics. No correlation was found for social abilities, but positive correlations were found for the use of fear and joy emotion regulation strategies with academic performance in mathematics. Two negative correlations were found for math anxiety in written calculations and for self-perception of academic performance with mathematics performance. In conclusion, the dissertation identified a positive association between Emotion regulation and Mathematical Performance, making it a predictor of mathematics performance. However, no association was found between Social Abilities and performance in mathematics.