RETRACTED: Parental investment mediates associations between lower family income and primary math achievement

Abstract

Mechanisms underlying the relation between family income and primary math achievement (PMA) are not well-understood. We tested whether family income via parental monetary and time investments during fourth grade through fifth-grade (24 months) was associated with math scores in fifth-grade (24 months later) in a sample of Bangladeshi children ( N = 760, 52% boys, M = 9.1 Years, SD = 3.3 at baseline) and their parents. The results from structural equation modeling suggested that lower-family income, fewer monetary investments in children's math stimulating materials and less time spent with children's math practices at home were directly and significantly associated with lower math scores in fifth-grade. Although both factors mediated the relations between income and PMA, time investment explained a greater amount of variance (15%) in the associations with PMA as compared to monetary investment (10%), after accounting for control variables. Future directions for policy and further research are discussed. • The study examines how lower-income via parental investments affects fifth grade math scores in Bangladesh context. • Fewer monetary investments partially mediated the association between lower-income and poorer math scores. • Fewer time investments partially mediated the association between lower-income and poorer math scores. • The magnitude of time than monetary investment linking lower-income to poorer math scores was higher with control variable. • The findings contribute to our understanding of the role fewer parental investments play in child's math underachievement.