Parental mathematical expectations and children’s early mathematical attitudes: Moderated mediation effect of parental mathematical involvement and parent gender

Given the fundamental role of early math skills in future academic and career success, numerous researches have been dedicated to the issue. However, only a few examined children’s early math attitudes, which are closely associated with children’s mathematical skills and vital for taking children’s perspective and setting the foundation for their future success in STEM (i.e., science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields. The current study examined children’s early mathematical attitudes (CEMAs) and the underlying mechanism using the Expectation-Value Theory (EVT) framework. A total of 2594 Chinese parents (Mean age = 33.87, SD = 5.13) of children in early childhood (Mean age = 5.01, SD = 0.92) participated. They reported their attitudes toward the importance of their children’s developmental benchmarks in mathematics (PMEs, parental mathematical expectations), the frequency of their mathematical activities with their children (PMI, parental mathematical involvement), and their children’s interest in parent-child mathematical activities (CEMAs). Moderated mediation tests were conducted to examine the mediating and moderating role of PMI and parent gender in the relationship between PMEs and CEMAs. The results indicated that (1) PMEs had a direct positive effect on CEMAs; (2) PMEs had an indirect effect on CEMAs, through the mediating role of PMI; (3) Parent gender moderated the mediating process, particularly in the path of PMI to CEMAs. The present study may have expanded the Home Numeracy Environment model to involve CEMAs. The implications for educational practices and further studies are also discussed.