In schools across the country, students are avoiding the study of mathematics, and this behavior is much more prevalent among girls than boys. This 1980 Abt Books study brings the reader closer to an understanding of this problem by presenting the findings of a three-year longitudinal study of 1,500 students in three New England schools under the auspices of the Spencer Foundation and the National Institute of Education. The author identifies four central causative factors and compares them along the dimensions of age, sex, and socioeconomic status. The author proposes five remedial strategies.