Intergenerational Transmission of Math anxiety: Discussion About Research of Parents’ and Children’s Math Anxiety

Abstract

Math is an abstract and challenging subject, so students may have math anxiety when studying math. Math anxiety might be transmitted intergenerationally. This article discusses research on math anxiety’s intergenerational transmission in three aspects. The first aspect is the factors of parents influencing children’s math anxiety levels. These factors are parents’ math anxiety, intelligence mindset, parent-child relationships, and parental educational involvement. The second aspect is the influence of parental math anxiety on children. Parental anxiety can influence children’s math anxiety, math outcomes, and how much math they learn, and it can affect children as early as kindergarten age. The third aspect is the methods and interventions reducing children’s math anxiety and improving outcomes. Stopping parents with high math anxiety levels, using math applications involving interaction between parents and children, changing fixed mindset to growth mindset, and doing mindfulness are all interventions that can help reduce children’s math anxiety. In conclusion, the intergenerational transmission of math anxiety is critical and represented by factors of parents influencing children’s math anxiety level and the influence of parental math anxiety on children. Parents should use appropriate ways to reduce their children’s math anxiety. Further research should focus on the cause-and-effect relationship between parents’ math anxiety and children.