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Relations Between Parents' Math Anxiety and Children's Math Learning: The Role of Homework Help
Madison B Poisall1, Olivia K Cook1,2, Sara A Hart3
1Department of Psychology, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida, USA.
Developmental Science
|July 31, 2026
Summary
Parental math anxiety and homework help frequency negatively impact children's math achievement. Frequent homework help consistently lowered math gains, while parent math anxiety showed inconsistent negative effects.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Educational Psychology
- Child Development
Background:
- Parental attitudes towards math and homework-helping behaviors influence children's math achievement.
- Previous research suggested parent math anxiety negatively impacts child math gains when parents frequently help with homework.
Purpose of the Study:
- To replicate and extend previous findings on the relationship between parental math anxiety, homework help, and child math achievement.
- To investigate this complex developmental mechanism in a larger, more diverse sample of elementary school students.
Main Methods:
- A large-scale study involving 3,018 U.S. elementary students (K-3) across 242 classrooms.
- Student math achievement and anxiety were assessed at the beginning and end of the school year.
- Parents reported their own math anxiety levels and the frequency of their homework-helping behaviors.
Main Results:
- No significant interaction was found between parent math anxiety and homework help frequency on children's math achievement, contradicting prior research.
- A consistent negative main effect of homework help frequency was observed across models, indicating it negatively impacts math achievement.
- Inconsistent negative main effects of parents' math anxiety were found on children's math achievement gains.
Conclusions:
- Parental math anxiety and the frequency of homework help play a role in child math outcomes, though the interaction effect observed previously was not replicated.
- The frequency of homework help consistently shows a negative association with children's math achievement gains.
- Further research is needed to explore the nature and emotional tone of parental homework assistance and its precise role in children's math development.
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