Socioeconomic Status and Children’s Math Proficiency Development: The Role of Parental Math Expectation, Investment, and Involvement

Abstract

Parental investment mechanisms underlying the relations between socioeconomic status (SES)and primary math proficiency are not well-understood. Using the lens of parental expectation, parental investment and parental stress model, present study narratively reviewed relevant literature on parental math expectation, math investment and math involvement that mediates the relations between SES and primary math proficiency. Evidence suggests that compared to high-SES parents, low-SES parents have low math expectation, poor math investment and math involvement by which low-SES influences poor math proficiency development over the primary schooling. Further research is necessary to confirm the parental investment pathways by which low-SES compared to high-SES influences children’s poor math proficiency during primary grades.