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Anxiety is a state of mind of intense worry that can affect students' performance both positively and negatively. Internationally, recent studies show high percentages of students diagnosed with anxiety and depression. This paper seeks to quantitatively analyze how anxiety is related to academic performance in Ecuadorian students. An Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) model with school fixed effects estimates an educational production function. The results confirm that, up to certain levels of anxiety, students' scores improve. However, once anxiety levels are elevated -a threshold that is higher for male students-scores are negatively affected. These findings are relevant for two reasons. First, during adolescence, experiences and interpersonal relationships impact personality construction and influence the development of cognitive, non-cognitive and emotional skills. Second, given the current post-pandemic situation, in which anxiety is a frequent scenario. This research concludes that it is necessary to reflect on the importance of rethinking pedagogical processes in schools and to analyze strategies to introduce mental health in the school curriculum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers the results of an analysis of the level of mathematical anxiety, understood to mean a feeling of discomfort experienced when someone is required to take mathematics classes, as displayed in students of secondary education in Costa Rica. The study was performed with a sample of 3,725 students in public secondary education in Costa Rica in 2013. The results show statistically significant differences between the sexes in the level of mathematical anxiety, with female students experiencing moderately higher anxiety levels. Differences in anxiety levels are also determined by the student's educational level, with significant differences found between third-cycle students (7th, 8th and 9th grades) and diversified education students (10th and 11th grades); the latter displayed moderately higher anxiety levels. Nonetheless, the study concludes that despite the differences observed, only 22.4% of students show high or very high levels of mathematical anxiety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]