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Silver AM, Chen Y, Smith DK, Tamis-LeMonda CS, Cabrera N, Libertus ME. Mothers’ and fathers’ engagement in math activities with their toddler sons and daughters: The moderating role of parental math beliefs. Front Psychol 2023; 14:1124056. [PMID: 36993892 PMCID: PMC10040787 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1124056] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/14/2022] [Accepted: 02/14/2023] [Indexed: 03/14/2023] Open
Abstract
Parents’ beliefs about the importance of math predicts their math engagement with their children. However, most work focuses on mothers’ math engagement with preschool- and school-aged children, leaving gaps in knowledge about fathers and the experiences of toddlers. We examined differences in mothers’ and fathers’ (N = 94) engagement in math- and non-math activities with their two-year-old girls and boys. Parents reported their beliefs about the importance of math and literacy for young children and their frequency of home learning activities. Parents of sons did not differ in their engagement in math activities from parents of daughters. Mothers reported engaging more frequently in math activities with their toddlers than fathers did, but the difference reduced when parents endorsed stronger beliefs about the importance of math for children. Even at very early ages, children experience vastly different opportunities to learn math in the home, with math-related experiences being shaped by both parent gender and parents’ beliefs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alex M. Silver
- Department of Psychology, Learning Research and Development Center, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, United States
- *Correspondence: Alex M. Silver,
| | - Yu Chen
- Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, United States
| | - Darcy K. Smith
- Department of Psychology, Learning Research and Development Center, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, United States
| | - Catherine S. Tamis-LeMonda
- Department of Applied Psychology, Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development, New York University, New York, NY, United States
| | - Natasha Cabrera
- Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, United States
| | - Melissa E. Libertus
- Department of Psychology, Learning Research and Development Center, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, United States
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Relations between the Home Learning Environment and the Literacy and Mathematics Skills of Eight-Year-Old Canadian Children. EDUCATION SCIENCES 2022. [DOI: 10.3390/educsci12080513] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/27/2023]
Abstract
The home learning environment includes parental activities, attitudes, affect, knowledge, and resources devoted to supporting children’s development, including literacy and mathematics skills. These factors are related to the academic performance of preschool children (aged 3 to 6 years), before formal schooling and possibly beyond. In the present research, we examined the home learning environment of Canadian families as reported by either the mother (n = 51) or father (n = 30) of their Grade 3 child (n = 81; Mage = 8.7 years; range 8 to 9 years of age). Importantly, mothers’ and fathers’ reports of the home learning environment for school children were similar. For literacy, parents’ knowledge of children’s books and attitudes toward literacy were related to children’s vocabulary skills; home literacy was not related to word reading skills. For mathematics, parents’ reports of the frequency of activities such as practicing arithmetic facts and their attitudes toward mathematics were related to children’s arithmetic fluency. Other aspects of the home learning environment (time spent helping with homework, parents’ math anxiety) were not related to children’s performance. These results suggest some continuity between home learning environments and academic skills after children’s transition to school.
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