Your anxiety towards the study of math may undermine your child's own success in this subject. The link between the parents' and their children's apprehension is revealed by a study conducted at the University of Chicago.
Entitled "Intergenerational Effects of Parents' Math Anxiety on Children's Math Achievement and Anxiety," the study appears in the Psychological Science and was researched by Sian Beilock and Susan Levine. Its lead author is Erin A. Maloney and the co-authors are Gerardo Ramirez and Elizabeth A. Gunderson.
The research analysed data gathered from 438 first- and second-graders and their primary caregiver. The children were evaluated in terms of their math anxiety and achievement, both at the beginning and at the end of the school year. The parents, on the other hand, completed a questionnaire related to their anxiety and nervousness about math and how frequent they helped their kids with math assignments.
The article on the study also wrote:
- When parents say 'Oh, I don't like math' or 'This stuff makes me nervous,' the kids get affected.
- Math-anxious parents may be less effective in explaining math concepts and may not respond well when children make a mistake or solve a problem in a novel way.
- Parents cannot just be told to get involved. There should be better tools to teach parents how to most effectively help their children with math.
- These tools may include math books, computer and traditional board games, or internet apps that will enable parents to interact with their children around math in a positive way.
The research seemed to suggest that a child's achievement in math was less attributed to genetics and more on the attitude of the parents towards the subject.
An earlier study conducted by the same group has established that when teachers are anxious about math, their students also learn less math during the school year.
