"A common impairment with lifelong consequences turns out to be highly contagious between parent and child, a new study shows." according to Jan Hoffman.
Photo: New York Times (blog) |
The impairment? Math anxiety.
Means of transmission? Homework help.
Children of highly
math-anxious parents learned less math and were more likely to develop
math anxiety themselves, but only when their parents provided frequent
help on math homework, according to a study of first- and second-graders, published in Psychological Science.
Researchers tested 438
children from 29 public and private schools in three Midwestern states
for math ability as well as math anxiety, at the beginning and end of
the school year. Their parents completed questionnaires about math
anxiety, and about how often they helped their children with homework.
So much for good
intentions. The more the math-anxious parents tried to work with their
children, the worse their children did in math, slipping more than a
third of a grade level behind their peers. And the children’s weaker
math achievements increased their nascent math anxiety.
Photo: Sian L. Beilock |
Parental math anxiety is exacerbated whenever schools introduce new methods of learning math, said Harris Cooper, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Duke University, who has studied the effects of homework.
Read more...
Source: New York Times (blog)