Exploring the Associations Between Latine Parental Beliefs and Informal and Formal Math Activities

• In Event: Broadening Our Understanding of Early Math Support at Home and at School

Abstract

Overrepresentation of Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic (WEIRD) participants in research have biased the fields' knowledge of math development and learning in young children. Results based on WEIRD participants may not be generalizable to non-Western cultural contexts, therefore, we wanted to explore Spanish-speaking Latine parents' HME and the relation between parent beliefs. Research has shown that parent-child interactions during informal math activities, where math concepts are learned spontaneously, compared to formal math activities, impact children's math skills in various ways [15]. One factor influencing parents' math activity engagement with their children is their beliefs and attitudes regarding their child's math development. Previous research indicates that parent-child interactions like number discussions can potentially bridge the gap between parents' beliefs and the outcomes for their children [16]. The present study examined the effects of formal and informal math on parent math anxiety. We hypothesized that Latine parents' beliefs regarding the role of math in their child's life predict parents' informal math activity engagement.

We used data from an online data collection survey. Participants were N=332 Spanish-Speaking Latine parents (63.25% mothers) of 2 to 5-year-olds (51.28% males); 66.67% of parents self-identified as U.S. Latine parents, and 12.25% self-identified as Mexican and 21.08% self-identified as South American. 21.65% had a high school degree or less, 32.76% completed some college, 34.19% obtained a 4-year college degree, and 11.40% completed a graduate degree.

First, a two-confirmatory factor analyses were conducted, 1) informal and 2) formal, to test fit. The two-factor model had better fit than the single-factor model, χ2 (188, N=332) = 570.487, p <.001. Model with separate factors for informal and formal match activity engagement had a better fit than a single-factor model, χ2 (189, N=332) = 775.464, p <.001, per confirmatory factor analyses (χ2D(1, N=XX)=204.977, p <.001).

Preliminary results suggest that informal math total and formal math do not significantly impact the math belief scale—their p-values (0.831 and 0.719, respectively. We also did not see a relation between math beliefs and informal/formal math activities when controlling for gender, education level, and U.S. generation (meaning they were the first to establish themselves in the U.S.). While the model contains a number of predictors, none of them are statistically significant, and the model as a whole does not significantly explain the variation in the math belief scale. This suggests that either the variables included in the model are not relevant predictors or the math belief scale is influenced by other factors not included in this model. Further research is needed to determine which of these possibilities is most likely. We also wanted to examine the relationship between math anxiety and formal and informal math activities. While formal math total may have a borderline significant negative relationship with math anxiety, no other predictor exhibits a statistically significant association. This was an interesting finding since we hypothesized that math beliefs were predictors of higher engagement in informal math activity and this suggests that there is no relation for Spanish-speaking Latine parents.

Authors

• Susana Beltran-Grimm, Portland State University

• Fabiola Herrera, Purdue University

• David J. Purpura, Purdue University