01720nas a2200217   4500000000100000008004100001260001300042653003300055653002400088653002600112653001000138653002400148100002600172700003100198245013400229856013300363300001000496490000700506520097500513022001401488       2017                            d  bElsevier10aConfirmatory Factor Analysis10aMathematics anxiety10aMathematics education10aScale10aSecondary education1 aLara Yáñez-Marquina1 aLourdes Villardón-Gallego00aMath anxiety, a hierarchical construct: Development and validation of the Scale for Assessing Math Anxiety in Secondary education  uhttp://www.elsevier.es/es-revista-ansiedad-estres-242-articulo-math-anxiety-hierarchical-construct-development-S1134793717300532  a59-650 v233 aSecondary students’ low achievement and engagement in mathematics is known to relate closely to their math anxiety. Despite the international body of research, the theoretical conceptualization of the construct math anxiety is still debated, showing strong discrepancies regarding its factor structure. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to develop and validate a new instrument, called Scale for Assessing Math Anxiety in Secondary education (SAMAS), by testing several models through confirmatory factor analysis. Data were collected from 563 secondary students, with an average age of 13.96 (SD=1.09) years. Several models for the construct were tested through confirmatory factor analysis. The results largely confirmed that the hierarquical structure showed the best fit to the data (χ2(166, N=563)=361.22; RMSEA=.046; SRMR=.045; NNFI=.94; CFI=.95), resulting in the psychometrically sound 20-item SAMAS, wherein math anxiety comprises three underlying factors.  a1134-7937