Researchers led by University of Chicago psychologists found that children of math-anxious parents learned less math over the school year and were more likely to be math-anxious themselves - but only when these parents provided frequent help on the child's math homework.
The study is the first to establish a link between parents' and children's math anxiety.
"We often don't think about how important parents' own attitudes are in determining their children's academic achievement," said UChicago psychologist Sian Beilock.
"Math-anxious parents may be less effective in explaining math concepts to children, and may not respond well when children make a mistake or solve a problem in a novel way," added Susan Levine, the Rebecca Anne Boylan Professor of Education and Society in Psychology.
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Four hundred and thirty-eight first- and second-grade students and their primary caregivers participated in the study. Children were assessed in math achievement and math anxiety at both the beginning and end of the school year.
Parents completed a questionnaire about their own nervousness and anxiety around math and how often they helped their children with math homework.
The researchers believe the link between parents' math anxiety and children's math performance stems more from math attitudes than genetics.
"Although it is possible that there is a genetic component to math anxiety the fact that parents' math anxiety negatively affected children only when they frequently helped them with math homework points to the need for interventions focused on both decreasing parents' math anxiety and scaffolding their skills in homework help," researchers said.