Statistics Anxiety Among Female African American Graduate-Level Social Work Students

Abstract

ABSTRACT Studies have found that statistics anxiety among female and minority graduate students is higher than that of their Caucasian counterparts. Both gender and culturally sensitive approaches to teaching statistics need to be developed to reduce student anxiety, especially in graduate programs that are dominated by women and minorities. The current study presents data on pre- and post-course statistics among female African American MSW students enrolled in a gender and culturally sensitive statistics course. A series of t-tests revealed that students had significantly lower levels of anxiety about statistics after the course. Implications for integrating gender and culturally sensitive approaches into the curriculum are discussed, and recommendations for future research are provided. Key Words: Statistics anxietysocial workAfrican Americanfemale