Self-Regulation and Mathematics Performance in German and Iranian Students of More and Less Math-Related Fields of Study

Frontiers in Psychology

article

Parvin Nemati¹  Caterina Gawrilow¹  Hans-Christoph Nuerk¹  Jan Kühnhausen⁴ 

[1] Department of Psychology, University of Tübingen;LEAD Graduate School & Research Network, University of Tübingen;Leibniz-Institut für Wissensmedien;Department for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Tübingen

关键词: self-regulation;    mathematics;    cross-culture;    field of study;    multiplication;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpsyg.2020.489371

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

Self-regulation is a multidimensional construct that is positively related to academic achievement, such as successful mathematics performance. However, this relation of self-regulation and mathematics performance has mainly been investigated in Western countries with similar cultural contexts, although self-regulation is assumed to be context-sensitive. Therefore, the present study investigated the relation of self-regulation and mathematics performance across two different countries (Germany vs. Iran) in college students. The relation of self-regulation and mathematics performance was expected to be weaker in students of math-related fields, such as Engineering/Informatics, as they are assumed to need less self-regulation to solve the mathematics problems than students of less math-related fields, such as Human Sciences. In total, 122 undergraduate students (German = 60; Iranian = 62) of Human Sciences or Engineering/Informatics participated in this study. We measured self-regulation with the Brief Self-Control Scale ( Tangney et al., 2004 ) and mathematics performance with a complex multiplication test. Results showed that self-regulation did not predict multiplication performance in German or Iranian students, in general. However, when the field of study was considered, self-regulation predicted multiplication performance in the subgroup of German and Iranian students studying Human Sciences within each country. We conclude that cultural context does not seem to play a dominant role in moderating the relation between self-regulation and math performance, however, field of study and more generally familiarity with math may be an important factor to consider in single or cross-cultural studies.

【 授权许可】

CC BY