Poster #35 - “My Child’s Math Ability Will Never Change”: Relations Between Parental Beliefs and Preschoolers’ Math Skills

• In Event: 1-005 - Poster Session 01
  In Poster Session: PS 01 Section - Cognitive Processes

Integrative Statement

Prior to kindergarten entry, there is significant variability in children’s mathematical knowledge (Sarama & Clements, 2009). Individual differences in children’s preschool skills predict their later math achievement (Duncan et al., 2007; Watts et al., 2014), and likely result in part from early math experiences with parents. The quantity and quality of parents’ mathematical talk with their preschool-aged children, as well as the types of and frequency with which parents engage in math activities with their child relate to children’s early math skills (Elliot & Bachman, 2018). Previous research has shown parents’ beliefs about learning play a powerful role in guiding their interactions with their children, including parents’ beliefs about the fixedness (or malleability) of their child’s abilities. In particular, parents with more fixed beliefs about their child’s ability report less frequent engagement in math-related activities with their child (Muenks, Miele, Ramani, Stapleton, & Rowe, 2015), and display more performance-oriented teaching, controlling behaviors, and negative affect during an interaction with their children (Moorman & Pomerantz, 2010).

The present study aimed to extend previous work on parental beliefs about the fixedness of math ability to a diverse sample of parents of preschool children, examining the relations between parental beliefs about the fixedness of math ability and children’s early mathematical skills. Given that parents’ beliefs about the fixedness of math abilities relate to their engagement in math activities in the home and interactions with their child during challenging academic tasks (Moorman & Pomerantz, 2010; Muenks et al., 2015), it is possible that these beliefs may affect children’s early math learning. Specifically, we hypothesized that preschool children may have less early math knowledge when their parents hold more fixed beliefs about their child’s math ability.

Participants were 70 Head Start preschoolers (Mage= 60 months; 49% female; 38% African American or Black, 25% Caucasian, 12% Asian or Pacific Islander, 25% biracial or mixed race; 29% Hispanic/Latino) and their parent or guardian. Parents completed the Parental Beliefs about Ability Fixedness (PBAF) scale (Muenks et al., 2015), and children completed a range of foundational mathematical knowledge measures individually with an experimenter (Table 1).

Parents’ PBAF math ability ratings varied (M=2.11, SD=0.62), and were not significantly related to their child’s age (r(69)=-.025, p=.84) or gender (t(68)=.51, p=.62). A median split was used to categorize parents into groups of more and less fixed ability beliefs. In general, children whose parents held more fixed beliefs about their math ability were equivalently proficient on the mathematical measures as children whose parents held less fixed beliefs (Figure 1). However, children whose parents held more fixed beliefs had significantly lower performance on the symbolic magnitude comparison measure (t(68)=1.68, p<.05 (1-tailed)).

In sum, our study provides a first look into the relations between parental beliefs about the fixedness of mathematics ability and children’s early math skills. Our results suggest that parents with more fixed beliefs may have children with less proficient early math skills, though the gap in performance is small and varies by the type of mathematical skills assessed.

Authors

• Nicole Scalise, University of Maryland, College Park
  Presenting Author

• Mary DePascale, University of Maryland, College Park
  Non-Presenting Author

• Claire McCown, West Virginia University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Geetha Ramani, University of Maryland
  Non-Presenting Author