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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Educational Psychology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1531262
The relationship between medical students' interest in learning and their ability to solve mathematical problems: The chain-mediating role of teacher-student relationship and self-efficacy
Provisionally accepted- Shandong Second Medical University, Weifang, China
Although the impact of learning interest on academic performance has been extensively studied, the chain-mediated mechanism by which medical students'mathematics learning interest influences competence through teacher-student relationships and self-efficacy remains underexplored. Empirical evidence utilizing multi-mediation models to test indirect effects is particularly lacking. This study investigated 806 Chinese medical students, assessing problem-solving ability using PISA mathematics items and examining the chain-mediated pathway of teacher-student relationships and mathematics self-efficacy via structural equation modeling (SEM) and bias-corrected bootstrap methods. After controlling for major, grade, and residence, the results demonstrated: (1) The direct effect of mathematics learning interest on problem -solving ability was non-significant (effect size = 0.0101, 95% CI [-0.0144, 0.0346]); (2) The independent mediating effect of teacher-student relationships was non-significant (effect size = 0.0083, 95% CI [-0.0114, 0.0196]); (3) The independent mediating effect of mathematics self-efficacy was significant (effect size = 0.0140, 95% CI [0.0003, 0.0286], contribution rate = 40.79%); (4) The chain -mediated pathway of teacher-student relationships → self-efficacy reached significance (effect size = 0.0020, 95% CI [0.0003, 0.00 48], contribution rate = 5.68%). The total mediation effect accounted for 70.66% of the total effect. These findings confirm that self -efficacy serves as the critical mechanism translating medical students' mathematics interest into competence. We recommend enhancing self-efficacy through clinical scenario-based simulation tasks and stepwise training programs, providing theoretical foundations for reforming medical mathematics curricula.
Keywords: Medical students, Mathematical problem-solving ability, Learning interest, teacher-student relationship, self-efficacy
Received: 20 Nov 2024; Accepted: 03 Mar 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Yang, Cui and Zhang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Li Yang, Shandong Second Medical University, Weifang, China
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