Although math skills are necessary for many professions and everyday tasks, many people struggle to understand and apply mathematical concepts. In addition to cognitive factors (e.g., working memory, attention), a range of affective factors relate to an individual’s math performance (see Skagenholt et al., 2025; Wu et al., 2017). Math attitudes such as math enjoyment, self-concept, confidence, and gender stereotypes about math ability have been linked to differences in students’ math performance (see Wen & Dubé, 2022 for a review). A particularly important affective factor in math achievement is math anxiety, or feelings of anxiety, tension, or worry when faced with situations involving math (Richardson & Suinn, 1972). Math-anxious individuals may experience anxiety in math classes, while taking math exams, or even in everyday situations like calculating a tip at a restaurant (Luttenberger et al., 2018).

There are several non-mutually exclusive accounts for how math anxiety and math achievement are related (see Lau et al., 2024 for a review). One group of theories, referred to as Reduced Competency Theory, suggests that individuals with low math achievement may tend to develop negative beliefs about their math abilities, which consequently increases their anxiety about math (Maloney & Beilock, 2012; Ramirez et al., 2018). Another class of theories, termed Disruption Theory or Processing Efficiency Theory, indicates that higher math anxiety may also directly impact math performance by disrupting cognitive processing. Specifically, when faced with a math problem, ruminations related to math anxiety may use working memory resources, hindering an individual's ability to attend to and perform multistep mathematical operations (Ashcraft & Moore, 2009; Ramirez et al., 2018).

A potentially important factor in both classes of theories is math avoidance. Reduced Competency Theory suggests that math avoidance behaviors may develop as another consequence to individuals’ negative attitudes toward math. Individuals with these beliefs may avoid math activities because they view them as a threat to their self-esteem (Skaalvik, 2018). Relatedly, Processing Efficiency Theory indicates that math anxiety may directly increase avoidance behaviors. Studies in this area have found that avoidance behaviors such as decreased engagement in math classes and with math homework may mediate the relationship between math anxiety and math achievement (Quintero et al., 2022; Song et al., 2023). The link between math anxiety and avoidance has been observed both in the moment, through avoiding attending to mathematical stimuli (Pizzie & Kraemer, 2017) and solving difficult math problems (Choe et al., 2019), as well as in broader decision-making, such as avoiding taking elective math classes (Ashcraft, 2002) and pursuing careers in STEM fields (Ashcraft & Moore, 2009).

It is especially important to consider these effects for women, as women tend to experience higher levels of math anxiety than men, despite there being a minimal or nonexistent gender gap in math achievement (Dowker et al., 2016). Although multiple possible explanations for women’s greater math anxiety have been discussed (see Dowker et al. 2016 for a review), some evidence suggests that gender stereotypes about math (i.e., that women have lower math ability than men) may play an important role. Several studies have suggested that women’s belief in these negative stereotypes may help to explain their higher math anxiety (Bieg et al., 2015; Justicia-Galiano et al., 2023).

While previous studies have primarily focused on understanding the mechanisms through which math anxiety and math achievement are linked, less research has focused on understanding how math anxiety relates to individuals’ broader functioning in a numerate society. For instance, financial literacy–an individual’s understanding of financial topics and skills–relies on an understanding of basic mathematical concepts. Several recent studies have linked math anxiety to lower financial literacy (Skagerlund et al., 2018; Storozuk & Maloney, 2023). Storozuk and Maloney (2023) investigated how math anxiety relates to different subcomponents of financial literacy and found that math anxiety specifically related to mathematical financial knowledge. Their findings suggested that this relation is partially driven by numeracy, such that individuals with math anxiety lack the numerical skills critical to understanding mathematical financial concepts. However, numeracy does not fully explain the association between math anxiety and financial literacy (Skagerlund et al., 2018; Storozuk & Maloney, 2023), raising questions about what other factors might help to explain this relation.

Some evidence suggests that the association between math anxiety and math avoidance (Ashcraft, 2002; Ashcraft & Moore, 2009; Choe et al., 2019; Song et al., 2023) may extend to financial contexts, providing another possible link between math anxiety and financial literacy. Several studies have observed that math-anxious individuals may struggle with financial decision-making during tasks related to calculating and comparing item prices (Storozuk et al., 2023; Suri et al., 2013). Specifically, individuals with math anxiety show a greater tendency to avoid difficult price calculations, which may lead to undesirable financial decisions (Feng et al., 2014). An important next step is to explore whether math avoidance may help to explain the relation between math anxiety and financial literacy, especially within the context of other known predictors of financial literacy.

Researchers have also investigated financial anxiety as a related but distinct construct from math anxiety. Financial anxiety refers specifically to anxiety or worry about managing one’s finances (Gignac et al., 2023) and is fairly common in the U.S., particularly among young adults. One survey found that 69% of 18- to 34-year-olds were anxious about their personal finances (Lin et al., 2022). Financial anxiety tends to be higher among individuals experiencing financial hardship–such as student loans, debt, or unemployment (Archuleta et al., 2013; Hasler et al., 2021)–although national surveys suggest that financial anxiety is prevalent across all income levels (Hasler et al., 2021; Lin et al., 2022). Financial anxiety has also been found to be higher in women than men, even when controlling for other demographics, financial attitudes, and financial standing (Archuleta et al., 2013; Hasler et al., 2021).

Financial anxiety has been linked to lower financial literacy (Gignac et al., 2023; Storozuk & Maloney, 2023; Tinghög et al., 2021). For example, in Storozuk and Maloney’s (2023) study, while math anxiety was only related to the mathematical subcomponent of financial knowledge, financial anxiety was related to both mathematical and conceptual financial knowledge. Although research explaining the link between financial anxiety and financial literacy is limited, Shapiro and Burchell (2012) identified one potential feature of this relation. In their study, financially-anxious individuals showed a tendency to avoid attending to and processing financial information. They concluded that individuals with financial anxiety may avoid financial content as a defense mechanism to combat feelings of stress or anxiety. Although the authors did not measure financial literacy in this study, their findings raise important questions about whether avoidance of financial content may help to explain the relation between financial anxiety and financial literacy.

Math anxiety and financial anxiety have both been connected to avoidance of financial content (Feng et al., 2014; Shapiro & Burchell, 2012), which suggests that avoidance may help to explain the relation between these anxieties and financial literacy. However, this question has not been investigated directly. Likewise, the literature on financial literacy has identified several other factors that may be related to both avoidance of financial content and measures of financial literacy. In general, studies that use the ‘Big Three’ financial literacy measure (Lusardi & Mitchell, 2007) have noted high rates of nonresponses (Brown & Graf, 2013; Lusardi & Streeter, 2023). In one study, over half of participants avoided responding to at least one of the three financial literacy questions, either by selecting “I don’t know” or “I prefer not to say” (Lusardi & Streeter, 2023).

Women and individuals with fewer years of formal education typically avoid responding to financial literacy questions more frequently than their counterparts (Brown & Graf, 2013; Lusardi & Streeter, 2023). Although these populations also score lower on financial literacy measures more generally, research indicates that nonresponses should not be fully equated with a lack of knowledge. Indeed, at least one study found that nonresponses were also indicative of participants’ lower confidence in their knowledge (Bucher-Koenen et al., 2021, but see Tinghög et al., 2021). This finding raises questions about whether individuals’ underlying anxiety about math or financial content may relate to their lower confidence and avoidance of these measures. As of yet, few studies have bridged these two bodies of literature. However, it is necessary to examine the potential role of avoidance in order to more fully understand how math anxiety and financial anxiety relate to financial literacy. Therefore, the current study aimed to address the following research questions: 1) What are the relations between math anxiety, financial anxiety, and financial literacy? 2) Does avoidance of financial content help to explain these relations?

We recruited a nationally representative sample of young adults in the U.S. through Qualtrics, an online recruitment and survey platform. Participants’ data was only recorded if they completed an honesty commitment and successfully answered two attention check questions. Qualtrics also automatically rejected responses that had poor data quality (e.g., straightlining, duplicate responses). One participant was excluded from the sample due to missing data related to key measures. The final sample consisted of 393 participants ranging in age from 18 to 22 (M = 20.32, SD = 1.49). The sample was diverse in terms of gender, race, ethnicity, and income (see Table 1).

This study received approval from an institutional review board before data collection began. Recruitment was conducted through the Qualtrics platform, which uses online panels to recruit research participants. Qualtrics established quotas for gender, race, ethnicity, and household income, so that the final sample was nationally representative. Eligible participants completed a survey on the Qualtrics platform, which included a consent form and demographic questions as well as the measures listed below. Participants also completed questions about their social media use and experience with financial advice on social media, which are not reported on here. Participant compensation was managed by Qualtrics, which involved compensating participants based on the length of the survey.

Math anxiety was measured using the Single-Item Math Anxiety scale (SIMA), which has previously been validated with multiple-item math anxiety scales (Núñez-Peña et al., 2014). Participants rated one statement about their anxiety around math on a scale from 1 (low anxiety) to 5 (high anxiety). Although single-item scales are limited in terms of their internal consistency, the SIMA has been shown to be reliable and have strong score stability (Núñez-Peña et al., 2014). Further, the single-item scale is an easier and more efficient approach when completing survey research with large samples, making it preferable for this study.

The SIMA was also adapted to measure participants' reading anxiety. We used reading anxiety as a control to explore whether any relations between math anxiety, financial anxiety, and financial literacy were unique to those forms of anxiety or whether reading anxiety showed similar patterns.

Financial anxiety was measured using the twelve-item Financial Anxiety Scale (Shapiro & Burchell, 2012). The scale includes items such as “Discussing my finances can make my heart race or make me feel stressed”. Participants rated each statement on a scale of 1 (completely untrue) to 4 (very true). The scale was found to be reliable, α = 0.82. Participants’ financial anxiety score was calculated by averaging their responses to each item.

Financial literacy was measured using the Big Three measure devised by Lusardi and Mitchell (2007). Participants answered three multiple-choice questions assessing their knowledge of interest rates, inflation, and risk diversification. Importantly, all questions in the Big Three measure include nonresponse options (i.e., “I don’t know” and “I prefer not to say”), meaning that for each question, participants either select the correct response, an incorrect response, or a nonresponse. Participants’ financial literacy was scored by whether or not they selected the correct response for all three questions (Lusardi, 2019). We opted to use this scoring method in order to align with previous studies. Although this approach to scoring the measure treats nonresponses the same as incorrect responses, in our exploratory analyses we separated out these two options. We chose to investigate incorrect responses and nonresponses separately, since some research suggests that nonresponses may specifically reflect individuals’ lower confidence about their knowledge (Bucher-Koenen et al., 2021).

There was only one missing value in our dataset (0.01% of total data). This participant was excluded from analyses. Analyses between key variables were preregistered before data collection at https://osf.io/6jnwp. In addition, some exploratory analyses were conducted to further explore the relations between math and financial anxiety, avoidance, and financial literacy. All analyses were conducted using R statistical software (v4.2.2; R Core Team, 2022).

Participants reported a moderate amount of math anxiety and financial anxiety and a lower level of reading anxiety (see Table 2). The majority of participants did not answer the Big Three financial literacy questions correctly (74.30%).

Our study identified two mechanisms that may underlie the negative relation between math anxiety and financial literacy. First, math anxiety was related to the likelihood of answering a financial literacy question incorrectly. This finding aligns with previous work on the topic, which has primarily explained the link between math anxiety and financial literacy in terms of math-anxious individuals’ lower mathematical financial knowledge (Storozuk & Maloney, 2023). However, previous studies have raised questions about unidentified mechanisms that help to explain the relation between math anxiety and financial literacy (Skagerlund et al., 2018; Storozuk & Maloney, 2023). Our study suggests that math avoidance may be another pathway through which these factors relate. Higher math anxiety, but not financial anxiety, was associated with a greater tendency to avoid financial literacy questions. Although math-anxious individuals are known to avoid situations involving difficult math problems (Choe et al., 2019) and financial calculations (Feng et al., 2014), it has not yet been shown that they are more likely to avoid financial literacy questions specifically.

Both Reduced Competency Theory and Processing Efficiency Theory offer possible explanations for the role of avoidance in the relationship between math anxiety and financial literacy. One possibility, in line with Reduced Competency Theory, is that individuals with low math achievement tend to hold negative attitudes about math, which subsequently leads to the development of both math anxiety and math avoidance behaviors (see Lau et al., 2024). In this context, participants in our study may avoid financial literacy questions because of previous struggles with math performance and negative attitudes toward their ability on tasks involving math. Similarly, Processing Efficiency Theory suggests that math anxiety may directly impact math avoidance (see Lau et al., 2024). From this perspective, participants’ math anxiety may lead them to avoid engaging in tasks that they find stressful, such as financial literacy questions involving mathematical concepts. While further research should continue examining the links between these related constructs, our findings nevertheless support both theories’ inclusion of math avoidance as an important behavioral factor associated with math anxiety and performance.

Our findings about the role of avoidance are especially concerning considering that there is no mandatory financial education in the US and personal finance courses are often offered only as electives (Council for Economic Education, 2024). Math anxiety has previously been linked to avoidance of math classes (Ashcraft, 2002), and it is therefore possible that math-anxious students may also be less likely to enroll in personal finance classes. Future research could explore this connection to understand the extent to which math anxiety may relate to longer-term avoidance of financial content and situations.

We also examined financial anxiety to see whether it had a similar relation to financial literacy. Interestingly, although financial anxiety was related to lower financial literacy, it was not related to avoidance of financial literacy questions. Although there is prior evidence for a link between financial anxiety and avoidance of financial content (Shapiro & Burchell, 2012), our findings suggest that financial anxiety may not play a significant role in avoidance of financial literacy questions after accounting for math anxiety. This finding could indicate that financial anxiety specifically relates to lower knowledge about financial topics (Storozuk & Maloney, 2023) but may not be associated with individuals’ confidence in their knowledge. However, as there are relatively few studies in this area, it is difficult to draw a conclusion about the relation between financial anxiety and avoidance. Further research is needed to establish whether financial anxiety may also relate to avoidance of financial literacy questions or whether that is unique to math anxiety.

We also found that women and participants with fewer years of formal education had lower financial literacy, even accounting for differences in math anxiety and financial anxiety. This finding is consistent with past research, which has found that although these anxieties are known to vary by gender (Dowker et al., 2016; Hasler et al., 2021), there is still a remaining effect of gender on financial literacy (Skagerlund et al., 2018; Storozuk et al., 2023). Our study suggests that women’s tendency to avoid financial literacy questions may help to explain this remaining difference. When we examined just the financial literacy questions that participants responded to, we did not see a gender difference in their likelihood of responding correctly. This suggests that lower confidence may help to explain women’s lower performance on financial literacy questions (Bucher-Koenen et al., 2021). Future research and educational efforts could also consider whether stereotype threat may play a role in this behavior. Research has found that informing women about stereotype threat can eliminate gender gaps in math performance (Johns et al., 2005), suggesting this could be a promising avenue for boosting women’s confidence and performance on financial literacy measures as well.

It is important to note several limitations that can inform future research. First, recent studies have suggested that the Big Three financial literacy measure may be confounded with numeracy, as two out of the three questions involve numerical calculation (Storozuk & Maloney, 2023). We selected the Big Three measure because it is one of the most widely accepted and used measures of financial literacy (Lusardi & Mitchell, 2011) and it has been used in a previous study involving math anxiety (Skagerlund et al., 2018). However, its reliance on mathematical questions is important to note within this study, as it makes it difficult to separate out the mathematical and financial content. Storozuk and Maloney’s (2023) study adds important context to our findings; they found that math anxiety related to mathematical, but not conceptual, financial literacy questions. Similarly, their findings could suggest that math anxiety might not be related to avoidance of non-mathematical financial literacy questions, though their study did not examine avoidance. Further investigation into the types of financial questions and experiences math-anxious young adults avoid is necessary for supporting math-anxious individuals who are reluctant to engage with financial content.

Future research could also expand on this study by including separate measures of avoidance and financial literacy. We used the nonresponse options in the Big Three financial literacy measure to measure participants’ avoidance, but independent measures of financial literacy and financial avoidance could further clarify the mechanisms through which math anxiety and financial literacy are related. Finally, using a multi- rather than single-item scale to measure math anxiety could help establish the robustness of the present findings and provide further insight into the specific connections between math anxiety and financial literacy.

It is important for both researchers and practitioners to understand the variety of ways that math anxiety may interact with and potentially shape students’ education, both in math itself and related topics such as financial education. Our study emphasizes the potential implications for young people’s financial literacy, which in turn can inform future financial behaviors and wellbeing (Lusardi & Streeter, 2023). Specifically, math anxious individuals may exhibit lower financial literacy due to both lower performance on financial literacy questions and a greater tendency to avoid answering these questions. These findings suggest that efforts to improve young people’s mathematical knowledge and confidence may also be effective in promoting financial literacy.