Abstract
Negative academic labels such as “bad at math” shape how students interpret their abilities, participate in classrooms, and make decisions about future coursework. Although math anxiety and academic self-concept are well studied, the ways in which labeling processes operate within college mathematics environments and intersect with structural inequality and instructional practices remain underexamined. Grounded in labeling theory and symbolic interactionism, this study examines how undergraduate students develop and internalize negative mathematical identities and how these identities relate to math anxiety, attitudes toward mathematics, sense of belonging, and confidence in future coursework. Data were collected through a university-wide survey administered via Qualtrics, with a final analytic sample of 477 undergraduate students. Analyses included descriptive statistics, Pearson correlations, independent-samples t-tests, one-way ANOVAs, and regression modeling. Findings demonstrated that students who internalized negative mathematical labels reported significantly higher math anxiety and lower levels of belonging, confidence, and positive attitudes toward mathematics. Early negative math experiences and institutional factors such as placement level, accommodation use, and course repetition were also associated with less favorable academic outcomes. In contrast, visual learning strategies demonstrated only weak positive relationships with confidence and attitudes, suggesting that representational support alone may not substantially reduce broader identity-based outcomes. Overall, the findings support the argument that math anxiety is not simply an individual academic issue, but a socially produced outcome shaped through labeling, institutional structures, and repeated experiences of recognition or exclusion within mathematics education.