Latent mathematics attitude profiles among eighth-grade students: associations with school belonging and bullying.

INTRODUCTION

This study examined heterogeneity in students' mathematics attitudes and the associations of perceived school belonging, bullying victimization, gender, and home educational resources with profile membership.

METHODS

TIMSS 2023 Türkiye data included 4,925 eighth-grade students (LPA analytic N = 4,820; three-step analytic N = 4,739). Latent profile analysis used the three official TIMSS derived scale scores for liking mathematics, confidence in mathematics, and valuing mathematics, with equal indicator variances across profiles and within-profile covariances fixed at zero. Model selection jointly considered fit, profile size, classification quality, substantive distinctiveness, and covariance-specification sensitivity. Associations with profile membership were examined using design-adjusted, classification-error-corrected three-step analyses.

RESULTS

A five-profile solution was retained as a parsimonious descriptive classification: Low Overall / Very Low Confidence, Low Liking-Value / Relatively Higher Confidence, Slightly Below-Average, Positive, and Highly Positive. Perceived school belonging was the most consistent correlate of profile membership, F(4, 68) = 47.74, p < 0.001, and home educational resources also differentiated profiles, F(4, 68) = 15.61, p < 0.001. Gender showed a smaller omnibus association, F(4, 68) = 2.88, p = 0.029, whereas bullying victimization did not differentiate profiles after simultaneous adjustment for the other covariates, F(4, 68) = 1.78, p = 0.143. When perceived school belonging was omitted in a sensitivity model, bullying victimization did differentiate profiles, F(4, 68) = 6.02, p < 0.001.

DISCUSSION: Mathematics attitudes varied mainly in overall level, with limited configurational heterogeneity among the two lowest-attitude profiles. The change in the conditional association with bullying after omitting school belonging does not establish mediation or causal ordering.