The home mathematics environment and its relation to children's mathematical skills for Chinese families

Abstract

The home mathematics environment of preschoolers is related to their mathematical performance. Information about the home mathematics environment in China is sparse, however. Accordingly, we developed and tested a culturally relevant home mathematics environment questionnaire for Chinese families. In Study 1 (n = 376), exploratory factor analysis of the questionnaire revealed four activity factors: Informal, Basic Formal, Advanced Formal, and Spatial. In Study 2 (n = 353), the general structure of the questionnaire was evaluated with confirmatory factor analysis. Some minor changes were made to the questionnaire. In Study 3, 137 caregivers completed the refined questionnaire and their children were tested on fundamental mathematical skills. As in research from Western countries, Chinese parents' reports of the frequency of advanced mathematical activities were positively correlated with their preschoolers' mathematical skills. This study provides comparative data from China about the home mathematics environment and broadens the scope of research beyond Western countries. Educational relevance statementWe developed a questionnaire with high reliability and strong validity, demonstrating that it is a useful tool for assessing the home mathematics environment of Chinese families. The work adds to the literature on the home mathematics environment more generally and provides comparative data from China. We found that the performance of Chinese preschool children on mathematical tasks was related to the frequency of advanced but not basic formal mathematical activities, highlighting the similar relations between the home mathematics environment and children's mathematics performance across the world.