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Parenting and mathematical development.

Article Excerpt
Abstract

Students from the U.S. have scored more poorly than students from other industrialized countries in mathematics assessments for many years. The home environment is a potent influence on the learning and behavior of young children. We were interested in whether the variables of parenting and maternal mathematics achievement influence children's self-efficacy in mathematics as well as their actual performance in mathematics.

Introduction

Mathematics is everywhere in the day of a preschooler but it is often hidden. The social environment influenced by parents results in variations in experience for children and may play a critical role in the development of what is often considered a nonsocial domain.

For the past thirty years students in the U.S. have performed more poorly than students from other countries on assessments of their mathematics skills (Mullis, Martin, Gonzalez, & Chrostowski, 2004; Medrich & Griffith, 1992; Stevenson & Stigler, 1992). The most recent comparison shows some improvement in the skills of eighth grade students in the U.S., but students in the U.S. still perform more poorly than students in several Asian countries (Gonzales et al., 2004). U.S. students are lagging as early as the first grade behind students in other industrialized countries (Miller, Kelly, & Zhou, 2005). Further, there is a gap in student achievement between economic advantaged and disadvantaged children in the U.S. (Gonzales et al., 2004). Many poor American children enter kindergarten with little exposure or experience with mathematical concepts and with considerably less knowledge than middle and upper income American children (Klein & Starkey, 1995; Entwisle & Alexander, 1990).

Since children from different backgrounds perform differently on mathematics assessments by first grade the preschool period is especially relevant. During the preschool period children develop many intuitive math skills that form the foundation for skills acquired in elementary school (Ginsburg, Klein, & Starkey, 1998).

This study examines the quality of parenting and how it influences children's mathematical performance and children's self efficacy in mathematics by interacting with a more distal variable, maternal mathematics achievement, and with a more proximal variable, maternal attitudes and perceptions about their child's mathematical skills. We were interested in whether parenting, maternal math skills, and maternal attitudes and beliefs have different effects depending on which types of math skills children are developing. Prior to the time that they enter school and receive structured math instruction, children develop informal mathematical knowledge. Informal knowledge develops through everyday experiences and may have biological origins (Geary, 1994). It is supported by variety in everyday experiences and includes skills such as comparing two sets...