MATH ANXIETY AND ACHIEVEMENT ON EARLY ELEMENTARY STAGE: HOW PARENTS CAN (NOT) HELP?

Abstract

Parental involvement in child education is one of the most important factors in area of childrens' mathematical success and math anxiety. The different characteristics of the parents show various contributions to the manifestation of these phenomena. In addition, it seems that there are specific gender differences in contributions, so the father and mother characteristics must be considered separately. The goal of this research was to examine the contribution of various forms of parent involvement in childrens' mathematical anxiety and mathematical achievement. The sample was consisted of 176 early elementary school pupils (52.3% of boys), from the territory of Serbia (average age 9.26 years), and both parents of each child. Modified abbreviated math anxiety scale (mAMAS), with learning anxiety and evaluation anxiety as its subscales, as well as Parental involvement scale (PI) were applied. PI is operationalized through four factors: Positive experience, Helping, Expectations, and Percieved Difficulties. Math achievement is operationalized as the average of final school marks in mathematics from the semester and from the end of the previous school year. The results indicate a significant negative contribution of mother's and father's percieved difficulties to the mathematical achievement of the child, as well as the negative contributions of the mother's positive experiences to math learning and evaluation anxiety. Father's expectations negatively contribute only to the child's anxiety in area of evaluating. The results of this research provide confirmation of the findings of previous research, but also useful practical implications in the context of parent-child interaction in the context of parental involment in child education. It seems that the characteristics of mother and father contribute differently to the manifestation of child's mathematical anxiety and mathematical achievement. These results can help parents educate themselves in relation to typical patterns of association of their characteristics and educational outcomes of a child, with particular emphasis on those behaviors that contribute to maladaptive learning behaviors, poorer mathematical achievement and more expressed mathematical anxiety.