Longitudinal prediction of children's math anxiety from parent-child relationships

Abstract

Math anxiety is highly prevalent and thus has received considerable attention. However, only a few cross-sectional studies have examined the influence of parent–child relationships on math anxiety. We conducted a longitudinal study to test the effect of father–child and mother–child relationships on the math anxiety of children. Our sample comprised 287 elementary students who reported their father–child relationship, mother–child relationship, and math anxiety at two time points 1 year apart. Family cohesion was used as the indicator of the parent–child relationship. Cross-lagged models indicated that the father–child relationship, rather than the mother–child relationship, predicted the math anxiety of children, even after controlling for the gender of children, age of children, learning anxiety of children, social anxiety of children, learning motivation of children, math performance of children and math anxiety of parents. This study highlights the importance of the father–child relationship in the math anxiety of children.