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Mathematics anxiety: like parents like children




The mathematics anxiety of parents can undermine their children’s mathematics achievement, says the Association for Psychological Science (August 10, 2015). So like parents like children.

University of Chicago psychological researchers, Sian Beilock and Susan Levine and their postdoctoral scholars Erin Maloney, Gerardo Ramirez, and Elizabeth Gunderson, found that children of parents who have mathematics anxiety learned less throughout the school year and were more likely to be anxious about mathematics themselves – but only if the parents tried to provide frequent assistance with their child’s mathematics homework. Their article, Intergenerational Effects of Parent’s Math Anxiety on Children’s Math Achievement and Anxiety, in Psychologica Science explains the research.

The researchers had conducted previous research on math-anxious teachers and found that their students learned less mathematics during the year. Hence they extended their research to study the link between parents and children. They found that children are influenced by their parents’ negative comments and attitudes about mathematics. The parents were also poor at explaining mathematical concepts to their children and did not respond well when their children made mistakes or couldn’t solve a problem.

The study involved 438 first and second grade students and their parents (primary caregivers). Children were assessed in mathematics achievement and mathematics anxiety at the beginning of the school year and at the end of the school year. For the control group, the research team assessed reading achievement, which they found was not related to parental mathematics anxiety.

Parents completed a questionnaire about their mathematics anxiety and about how they helped their children with mathematics homework. They found that mathematical performance in children was linked not to genetics, but to the attitude of parents. This was because the more anxious parents helped children with their mathematics homework their children performed worse than with no help and were more anxious around their parents.

The study did not disaggregate according to gender, so we don’t know whether mothers or fathers were more anxious, or how it affected male or female children.

So what to do: help parents prepare for handling mathematics homework and reduce negative comments, attitudes, and anxiety or tell parents to stay away from their children when they are doing mathematics homework?





http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-08/afps-pma081015.php
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