Statistics Anxiety: Validity, Measurement Invariance, and Educational Correlates in the Hungarian STARS

Statistics anxiety is a specific form of anxiety that arises when individuals encounter statistical concepts. It has been shown to affect educational outcomes and hinder academic performance. This study investigated the construct validity, measurement invariance, and discriminant validity of the Hungarian version of the Statistics Anxiety Rating Scale (STARS). Furthermore, we examined the relationship between statistics anxiety and performance in a statistics course and on the Cognitive Reflection Test that measures analytical thinking. The sample comprised 377 participants (85% female) with a mean age of 20.6 years, predominantly freshmen from Eötvös Loránd University and the University of Pécs. Our findings provide evidence for the reliability and validity of the Hungarian STARS, preserving its bifactor structure and subscales. All levels of measurement invariance were achieved, indicating that the Hungarian STARS reliably assesses statistics anxiety across universities and statistics course experience. Discriminant validity analysis revealed that statistics anxiety is distinct from other constructs. The global level of statistics anxiety had a weak negative correlation with performance and with analytical thinking. These results highlight the reliability and validity of the Hungarian STARS for measuring statistics anxiety in university settings.