Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale
Open-knowledge reference entry
The Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale (MARS) is a rating scale used to diagnose mathematical anxiety and test the effectiveness of different math anxiety treatment approaches. It is available in several different lengths, and for different age groups. MARS and its subtest R-MARS are considered to be the educational standard for measuring math anxiety.
Original scale
The original Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale was introduced in 1972 by Frank Richardson and Richard Suinn. It focuses on identifying anxiety surrounding the manipulation of numbers, and use of mathematical concepts. Its original intended use was for treatment and research of math anxiety, development of an anxiety hierarchy in desensitization treatments.
The MARS is rating scale composed of brief descriptions of situations that might lead to different levels of anxiety in clients. Clients are asked to rate the situations on a likert-scale of 1 to 5. Answers of 1 represent a client might feel "not at all anxious" while a 5 indicates a feeling of "very much" anxious. There are 98-items in total, with diverse kinds of situations included.
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