Investigation of the relationship between mathematics self-efficacy/effort and mathematics attitudes of primary school 4th grade students

The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between fourth-grade primary school students' self-efficacy beliefs, effort levels, and attitudes toward mathematics. There search was designed using the relational survey model, one of the quantitative research methods. The study group consisted of 276 fourth-grade students studying in Adıyaman during the 2024–2025 academic year. To measure students' mathematics self-efficacy and effort, the "Self-Efficacy-Effort in Mathematics Scale (SEEM)" developed by Ian Hay, Yvonne Stevenson, and Stephen Winn (2022) was adapted into Turkish and applied. In addition, the Mathematics Attitude Scale developed by Gülburnu and Yıldırım (2015) was used to assess students' attitudes toward mathematics. The validity and reliability analyses of the adapted Scales were conducted, and the collected data were analyzed using appropriate statistical techniques. The findings revealed significant and positive correlations between students' mathematics self-efficacy, effort, and attitude scores. In particular, mathematics attitude was found to be strongly associated with both self-efficacy and effort. No significant differences were observed based on gender; however, significant relationships were identified between academic achievement and the examined variables. These results emphasize the critical role of affective factors in mathematical achievement and demonstrate how students' self-beliefs and efforts interact with their attitudes toward mathematics. The study contributes to the literature Through its current dataset, comprehensive scale adaptation process, and multidimensional analysis of interrelated psychological constructs in elementary school mathematics education. Keywords: Mathematics, Attitude, Self-Efficacy, Effort, Scale Adaptation, Gender