Medijatorski efekti matematičke anksioznosti u relaciji između očeve uključenosti u podučavanje i matematičkog postignuća učenika ranog osnovnoškolskog uzrasta

Abstract

Previous studies of mathematics anxiety in early primary school students indicate that it has significant negative effects on various educational outcomes, and especially on mathematics achievement. When it comes to anxiety factors related to mathematics learning, one of the dominant research trends is focused on analysing the social factors of its occurrence, i.e. the behaviour of parents and teachers. However, there are only few studies that link father's behaviour, the occurrence of mathematical anxiety in children and mathematics achievement, since mothers have mostly been studied as the parents who are more focused on their child's education and upbringing. The aim of this study is to examine the mediating role of mathematics anxiety in the relationship between father's involvement in the teaching process and child's mathematics achievement. The sample consisted of 191 students (52.9% girls) of early primary school age (2nd to 4th grade), with an average age of 8.78 years, and their fathers, whose average age was 41. The research was conducted in primary schools in Vojvodina. The results show that evaluation anxiety plays a significant role as a mediator in the relationship between father's previous positive experience with mathematics and the perceived difficulties in child's learning of mathematics. Father's positive experiences with mathematics and the perceived difficulties in child's mathematics learning, besides acting partly through math anxiety, also have a direct impact on children's math achievement.