Exploring the mediating role of academic anxiety in mathematics and reading performance among boys and girls: A comprehensive study of Italian fifth graders

There is a long-standing debate regarding the magnitude of gender differences in academic achievement. Using data from a robust and nationally representative sample of 146,227 Italian-fifth-graders, we investigated whether academic anxiety is related to gender differences in mathematics and reading achievement. Across six independent samples, boys had higher performance in mathematics (ds = −0.13 to −0.21) and girls had higher performance in reading (ds = 0.07 to 0.21) and higher test anxiety (ds = 0.30 to 0.37). Meta-analytic procedures indicated these patterns were stable across samples. Path analyses within and across samples suggested about one-third of the academic gender gaps can be accounted for by test anxiety. In particular, with control of test anxiety girls' advantage in reading achievement increased, while boys' advantage in mathematics decreased.