Parental support and enjoyment of learning in mathematics: Does change in parental support predict change in enjoyment of learning?

Abstract

Positive and negative emotions are ubiquitous in everyday school life, and can foster or impair processes of learning and achievement. However, learning- and achievement-related emotions are not based solely on experiences from respective situations in the school context. Rather, experiences outside of school, e.g. learning at home, are also important. The present study focused on the importance of perceived parental support for children’s enjoyment of learning in the subject of mathematics. We were interested in the following two characteristics of perceived parental support: perceived parental control, in the sense of intrusive parental support, and perceived parental structure, in the sense of clarity of parents’ learning-related expectations. The central question concerned the predictive effects of intraindividual changes in perceived parental control and perceived parental structure with respect to intraindividual changes in enjoyment of learning. This issue was tested by means of a latent change model. Data were analyzed of 396 children (six measurement time points from the sixth to the eighth school year). The results showed the expected indirect positive effects of intraindividual changes in perceived parental structure, and indirect negative effects of intraindividual changes in perceived parental control, with regard to intraindividual changes in enjoyment of learning. In both cases, intraindividual changes in control beliefs and value beliefs acted as mediating variables.