Latino Children’s Math Confidence: The Role of Mothers’ Gender Stereotypes and Involvement Across the Transition to Middle School

Abstract

The influence of parental beliefs and behaviors on children’s math confidence and performance is well documented, but few studies examine these associations over time, or in large samples of Latino/a families. This study used longitudinal data from 247 (114 sons and 133 daughters) mother-child dyads to examine whether maternal math gender stereotypes and math involvement predict changes in the mothers’ behavior or changes in the child’s perceived math competence. Maternal math gender stereotypes when children were in fifth grade predicted decreases in mothers’ involvement in their daughter’s math homework from fifth to sixth grade. Greater maternal math involvement in fifth grade predicted increases in sons’ and daughters’ perceptions of math ability from fifth to sixth grades.

Keywords

parent-adolescent relationships gender/gender differences Hispanic/Latino/Latina academic competence

Mathematics achievement in late elementary and middle school plays a critical role in students’ educational aspirations and achievement (Kieffer, Marinell, & Stephenson, 2011). Confidence and performance in math decline during the transition into adolescence, particularly during school transitions such as elementary to middle school (Gniewosz, Eccles, & Noack, 2012). The problem is acute among Latino/a students, who score significantly lower than their peers on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) mathematics composite test in eight grade (Aud et al., 2011).

Children’s Perceived Math Ability

In the expectancy-value theory of motivation, academic performance is influenced by the expectations a student has for success with a task, as well as the extent to which the task is valued, both of which are influenced by beliefs and behaviors (Wigfield & Eccles, 2000). This model comes from longitudinal research in which maternal views of child math abilities predict their child’s math achievement beliefs and behaviors many years later (Bleeker & Jacobs, 2004; Simpkins, Fredricks, & Eccles, 2012). Absent, however, is research that links changes in math confidence to parent behavior.

The expectancy-value theory also describes parents’ gender-related attitudes as strong predictors of their own behavior. These views are stable, and many parents believe that boys are better at math than girls (Gunderson, Ramirez, Levine, & Beilock, 2012). As a consequence, parents treat daughters and sons differently which can influence children’s self-perceptions (Eccles, 2007; Frome & Eccles, 1998; Simpkins, Fredricks, & Eccles, 2015; Tiedemann, 2000). Among highly educated mothers, those who believe that girls are not as good at math help their daughters more (Lindberg, Hyde, & Hirsch, 2008) and are more likely to provide unsolicited help to girls on their math homework (Bhanot & Jovanovic, 2005). Parents’ gender stereotype beliefs can also directly influence their children’s math confidence. For example, boys who believe that adults hold gender stereotyped beliefs tend to share those views, which lead to positive self-concepts related to their math abilities (Kurtz-Costes, Rowley, Harris-Britt, & Woods, 2008).

Studies of majority culture children in elementary and middle school find that more parent involvement is associated with higher perceived competence across a number of academic domains (Pomerantz, Kim, & Cheung, 2012). However, certain types of involvement, such as parent-child communication, predict improved academic performance and confidence with certain groups under certain conditions, whereas others predict a negative association when involvement is in response to low achievement (e.g., Hill & Tyson, 2009; Pomerantz, Moorman, & Litwack, 2007; Shute, Hansen, Underwood, & Razzouk, 2011). Unsolicited help, in particular, may undermine girls’ performance (Bhanot & Jovanovic, 2005). More focused measures of parental involvement are easier to interpret than aggregate measures, yet many studies conflate home and school involvement (Bakker & Denessen, 2007).

Research on Latino Families

Latino/a children are underachieving in math compared with their White and Asian peers (Aud et al., 2011). Thus, more research is needed to understand whether the relation between parent involvement and children’s math confidence varies across race/ethnicity (Bakker & Denessen, 2007; Hill & Tyson, 2009). Longitudinal studies that test the expectancy-value theory with Latino families are rare, most examine concurrent associations. We know that Mexican American children score higher on 10th grade standardized tests when their parents discuss school matters, provide educational resources, and do academic activities with them (Altschul, 2011). While one study found that frequency matters, the more Latina mothers discussed schoolwork with their early adolescent at home, the higher their math achievement (Eamon, 2005), helping with or monitoring homework is not statistically related to academic performance (e.g., Carranza, You, Chhuon, & Hudley, 2009).

Attitudes toward gender roles have become more egalitarian in the United States over the last few decades, but the extent to which immigrant Latino families share egalitarian gender role expectations is less clear. Traditional gender role attitudes decline over time for mothers born in Mexico, but not for those born in the United States (Toomey, Updegraff, Umaña-Taylor, & Jahromi, 2015). Recent data suggest that traditional gender-related expectations and messages are still common in Latino families (e.g., Gallegos-Castillo, 2006; Raffaelli & Ontai, 2004) and girls report greater pressure to conform to traditional gender norms than European American girls (Leaper, Farkas, & Brown, 2012). However, there is great diversity within the group we call Latinos, and gender role attitudes are related to birthplace and cultural orientation (Updegraff & Umaña-Taylor, 2015). When parents have stronger connections to U.S. culture, they are more likely to provide their sons and daughters with equal privileges and responsibilities (McHale, Updegraff, Shanahan, Crouter, & Killoren, 2005). Variability in Latino/a parent involvement is also shaped by parent education and acculturation level (Ryan, Casas, Kelly-Vance, Ryalls, & Nero, 2010), as well as marital status, the birth order of the child, and the number of children who live in the household (e.g., Lawson & Brossart, 2004; Sputa & Paulson, 1995).

The present study focused on Mexican origin mothers and their children in the United States. This subgroup makes up nearly two thirds of the U.S. Latino population (Gonzales-Barrera & Lopez, 2013). Four research questions are addressed; within each, we examine whether patterns of change or influence differ for mothers of girls and mothers of boys.

Research Question 1: To what extent do Latina mothers endorse gender stereotypes about math abilities and do these stereotypes change across the transition into middle school? We predict that mothers will be biased toward boys, and that gender stereotypes will remain stable as children transition from fifth to sixth grade.

Research Question 2: Do maternal reports of math gender stereotypes at the end of elementary school predict changes in their involvement in math activities across the transition into middle school? We expect that maternal endorsement of math gender stereotypes will predict increased involvement in their daughter’s math activities.

Research Question 3: Do maternal reports of math gender stereotypes at the end of elementary school predict changes in the child’s perceived math abilities across the transition into middle school? We expect that maternal endorsement of math gender stereotypes will predict lower perceived abilities among girls.

Research Question 4: Does maternal involvement in math at home at the end of elementary school predict changes in the child’s perceived math abilities across the transition into middle school? We predict that more involvement will lead to increases in child confidence.

Method

Participants

Participants included 247 children (114 males and 133 females) and their mothers, who resided in a small agricultural community in Northern California. Latino/as made up 81% of the population in 2012; 41% were foreign born (most in Mexico) and 74% spoke a language other than English at home. The community had relatively high levels of both unemployment (18%) and poverty (20%). Of the total sample, 76% (n = 187) of children lived in two parent households, 22% (n = 55) lived in single mother households, and 2% (n = 5) did not report household structure. At the outset, the average age of mothers was 37 years (range = 26-58, SD = 6.26). Approximately 73% (n = 178) of mothers were born in Mexico, the remainder (n = 64) were born in the United States. Only 7% (n = 18) of children were born outside of the United States (i.e., in Mexico). Approximately, 49% (n = 118) of mothers did not complete high school, 26% (n = 63) held a high school degree, and 20% (n = 48) attended or completed college.

Students were recruited from all 16 elementary schools in the district and the two charter schools that had fifth grade. Two waves of data were collected: in the spring of the fifth grade (M = 10.48, SD = 0.55 years), and in the fall of the sixth grade (M = 10.96, SD = 0.46 years), when children were in 16 middle schools. Attrition was low; of the 247 mother-child dyads participating when the children were in the fifth grade, 230 (92%) were also surveyed when the children were in the sixth grade. There were no statistically significant differences on any study variable between those who did and did not participate in both waves of data collection.

Measures

All measures were translated from English to Spanish, and were back-translated by a professional translator and bilingual staff member. The two versions were reviewed by two bilingual staff members; discrepancies were resolved by discussion and consultation with bilingual school staff members.

Means, standard deviations, and internal reliabilities for each variable, along with bivariate intercorrelations, are given in Table 1. The psychometric properties of the scales (mean level and internal reliabilities) were similar across participants who took the English survey and Spanish survey.

Table 1.

Means, Standard Deviations, and Correlations.

Variable	Correlation (r)
Variable	$\bar{X}$	SD	α	1	2	3	4	5
1. Fifth grade maternal math gender stereotypes	3.06	0.69	.76	—
2. Sixth grade maternal math gender stereotypes	3.09	0.52	.71	.36**	—
3. Fifth grade maternal math involvement	3.64	0.95	.84	.01	.05	—
4. Sixth grade maternal math involvement	3.64	0.87	.83	−.10	−.04	.65**	—
5. Fifth grade child perceived math ability	3.63	0.85	.78	.11^†	.01	−.02	.00	—
6. Sixth grade child perceived math ability	3.59	0.77	.78	.04	.03	.11^†	.07	.59**

Note. N = 247 mother-child dyads. The Maternal Math Gender Stereotypes scale ranged from 1 (strong female bias on math) to 3 (no gender bias on math) to 5 (strong male bias on math). The Maternal Math Involvement scale ranged from 1 (not at all involved) to 5 (very involved). The Child Perceived Math Ability scale ranged from 1 (not very good at math) to 5 (very good at math).

†

p < .10. *p < .05. **p < .01, two-tailed.

Maternal involvement in math

At both time points, mothers completed a four-item questionnaire (Bouchey & Harter, 2005) assessing math-related support provided to the child at home (e.g., “I work on math with my child; I do number activities with my child; I ask my child what she or he is doing in math at school; I talk to my child about things related to math”). Items were rated on a scale ranging from 1 (never) to 5 (very often). Item scores were averaged. The full scale has been linked with maternal education, maternal perceptions of math importance, and other measures of parental support, demonstrating construct validity (e.g., Bouchey & Harter, 2005; Malecki & Demaray, 2006).

Math gender stereotypes

At both time points, mothers completed a four-item questionnaire (Jacobs & Eccles, 1992) assessing gender stereotypes about the value of math and abilities in math (e.g., “In general, how would you compare girls and boys in math? In general, who do you believe finds math more useful in their adult lives? In general, to whom do you believe math is more important? In general, who do you believe performs at a higher math level?”). Items were rated on a scale ranging from 1 (strong female math bias, for example, math is more useful for girls) to 3 (no gender preference, for example, math is equally useful for boys and girls) to 5 (strong male math bias, for example, math is more useful for boys). Item scores were averaged. The full scale has been linked with maternal perceptions of child’s math ability (dependent on child’s sex), as well as children’s vulnerability to math performance stereotype threat and stereotype lift, demonstrating construct validity (e.g., Franceschini, Galli, Chiesi, & Primi, 2014; Jacobs & Eccles, 1992; Tomasetto, Alparone, & Cadinu, 2011).

Child perceptions of math ability

At both time points, children completed a three-item questionnaire (Frome & Eccles, 1998) assessing self-perceptions of math ability (e.g., “How good at math are you? If you were to rank all the students in your math class from the worst to the best, where would you put yourself? Compared with most of your other school subjects, how good are you at math?”). Items were scored on a scale from 1 (not good at all; the worst) to 5 (very good; the best). Item scores were averaged. The full scale has been linked with parental and teacher perceptions of children’s innate math ability and competence, as well as children’s math self-concept, demonstrating construct validity (e.g., Frome & Eccles, 1998; Gniewosz, Eccles, & Noack, 2012; Rytkönen, Aunola, & Nurmi, 2007; Upadyaya & Eccles, 2015).

Confounding variables

Supplemental analyses included potential confounding variables to determine if (a) changes in outcome variables were driven by demographic factors or if (b) changes remained after accounting for shared method variance with objective measures of math performance. Maternal Spanish Acculturation and Maternal English Acculturation were each measured with a four-item questionnaire (Cuéllar, Arnold, & Maldonado, 1995; for example, “I speak Spanish/English”). Items were rated on a scale from 1 (not at all) to 5 (very often). Internal reliability was adequate (α = .62-.83). Mothers reported the Birth Order of the Child (median = second, range = first to 10th or later). Math report card grades and standardized assessment (common core) math scores in the spring of fifth grade were obtained from participating schools. Grades ranged from 1 (below level) to 4 (advanced).

Procedure

Participants were recruited at school-based presentations and meetings, and at family community events. Written parental consent and student assent were required for participation.

Trained researchers administered surveys to mothers and children together at a public library (53%; n = 131), at school (36%; n = 90), at home (2%; n = 5), and at other locations convenient for mothers (9%; n = 21). Surveys were completed on computer tablets and were available in English and Spanish. Mothers and children completed the surveys separately without consultation. Most children chose to take the survey in English (92%, n = 226 at Time 1; 94%, n = 215 at Time 2). Most mothers chose to take the survey in Spanish (77%, n = 187 at Time 1; 76%, n = 173 at Time 2). Optional audio accompaniment was available.

Plan of Analysis

The analyses addressed the four research questions. Each will be described in turn. The first set of analyses describes the degree to which mothers endorse math gender stereotypes and the extent to which they change across the transition into middle school. Repeated measures ANOVA were conducted with time (Grade 5 and Grade 6) as the within-subjects factor. Child sex was the between-subjects factor. Math gender stereotypes were the dependent variable. Additional analyses were conducted with maternal reports of math involvement and child reports of perceived math ability as dependent variables.

The second set of analyses describe (a) the degree to which maternal math gender stereotypes predict changes across the transition into middle school in maternal involvement in math and child perceptions of math abilities, and (b) the degree to which maternal involvement in homework predicts changes in maternal math gender stereotypes and child perceptions of math abilities. A fully saturated path analysis model (see Figure 1) was conducted using Mplus 7.3 (Muthén & Muthén, 2015) with maximum likelihood with robust estimation. Standard fit indices assessed model fit. The Satorra-Bentler chi-square index should be non-significant; the root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) should be less than .08; and the comparative fit index (CFI) should exceed .95 (Hu & Bentler, 1999).

Figure 1.

Over time associations predicting changes in maternal math gender stereotypes, maternal math involvement, and child perceptions of math ability.

Multiple-group models tested gender differences in patterns of influence. A progressive model fitting procedure was used in which constraints were added to the multiple-group model in a step-wise fashion. The initial model included no constraints; all paths in the model were freely estimated. Next, scaled Satorra-Bentler chi-square difference tests were used to compare boys and girls on each path. Paths without statistically significant sex differences (p > .05) were constrained to be equal.

Supplemental analyses controlled for the contribution of potential confounding variables. Maternal survey language, maternal place of birth, maternal marital status, maternal age, maternal education, maternal English and Spanish acculturation, number of children in the household, birth order of child, child math assessment scores, child age, child math report card grades, child math standardized test scores, and child age were separately added to the model. In all instances, the addition of each control variable did not result in a significant worsening of model fit, and the same pattern of statistically significant associations was maintained.

Missing data accounted for an average of 5.7% of reports for the variables included in this study (range = 0.00%-8.50%). Little’s Missing Completely at Random (MCAR) test indicated that data were missing completely at random, χ²(89) = 78.48, p = .78. Missing data at the item level were imputed using an expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm with 20 iterations.

Results

Preliminary Analyses

A 2 (time) by 2 (child sex) ANOVA was conducted for maternal math gender stereotypes. There was a statistically significant Time × Child’s sex interaction, F(1, 245) = 5.36, p = .02. Follow-up t tests revealed maternal math gender stereotypes increased modestly for mothers with daughters (M = 2.90-3.02; d = 0.20), but there were no statistically significant changes in maternal math gender stereotypes for mothers with sons (M = 3.25-3.16; d = −0.14). Follow-up t tests revealed maternal math gender stereotypes were higher for mothers with sons compared with mothers with daughters (Grade 5: M_daughters = 2.90, M_sons = 3.25, d = 0.51; Grade 6: M_daughters = 3.02, M_sons = 3.16, d = 0.27).

There were no significant main effects or interactions involving maternal math involvement or child perceptions of math ability.

Over Time Associations between Maternal Math Gender Stereotypes, Maternal Math Involvement, and Child Perceived Math Ability

Figure 1 summarizes results for the final multiple-group model, χ²(12, N = 247) = 7.94, p = .79; CFI = 1.00; RMSEA = .00. Maternal reports of math gender stereotypes at Grade 5 were negatively associated with maternal involvement in math at Grade 6 for daughters, β = −.29, p < .01, but not for sons. Thus, higher initial levels of maternal math gender stereotypes predicted greater decreases in mothers’ involvement with their daughters’ math. A scaled chi-square difference test indicated that the association between Grade 5 math gender stereotypes and Grade 6 maternal involvement was significantly stronger (p < .05) for daughters than for sons.

Maternal involvement in math at Grade 5 was positively associated with child reports of math ability in Grade 6 for both sons and daughters, β = .11, p < .05. Higher initial levels of maternal math involvement predicted greater increases in the child’s perception of his or her own math ability.

Discussion

The results describe how Latina mothers’ math gender stereotypes affect their own behavior, and how their involvement with math at home affects changes in their children’s perceptions of math ability. Different patterns emerged for mothers of boys and girls.

Maternal Involvement and Children’s Perceived Math Ability

When mothers view themselves as more involved in mathematics at home, their children report greater increases in perceived ability as they enter middle school. The finding is consistent with a review of studies by Gonzalez-DeHass, Willems, and Holbein (2005) but does not support previous studies which indicate that the effects of mothers’ involvement vary by children’s gender (Pomerantz et al., 2007) and can have a negative effect on girls when it conveys the bias that girls are not strong in math (Bhanot & Jovanovic, 2005). One reason research has shown both positive and negative effects of parental involvement may be due to variations in how maternal involvement is measured, and whose views are measured. For example, a study of immigrant families found that academic engagement was high among girls who report high levels of maternal monitoring, and high among boys who report high levels of maternal academic advice (Plunkett, Behnke, Sands, & Choi, 2009). In the current study, the effects were also positive, but focused on mothers’ report of their involvement with math at home at the end of elementary school and did not vary by gender.

Maternal Math Gender Stereotypes

The results describe Latina mothers’ math gender stereotypes and their role in maternal behavior and children’s beliefs. As has been found in studies of European American families, maternal math gender stereotypes were higher among mothers of sons than among mothers of daughters, but the effect was small and the average mother did not endorse stereotypes favoring boys over girls in math. This is an important update to studies that have long documented parents’ gender stereotypes about math ability. Although other studies found that mothers’ gender stereotypes declined over the transition from fifth to sixth grade (Lindberg et al., 2008), in the current study, they increased slightly for mothers of girls, but did not change among mothers of boys. It is not clear why stereotype change is different in these Latino households, but we suspect that it may be a response by parents with traditional gender norms to the autonomy displayed by physically and emotionally maturing daughters. The differences may also be due to the great variation in how parents’ gender stereotypes are measured across studies.

Mothers’ gender stereotypes influenced their own behavior, but not their children’s beliefs. In contrast to our hypothesis that when parents view boys as better at math, they become more involved in their daughters’ school, our findings suggest just the opposite that higher levels of maternal math gender stereotypes predicted greater decreases in math involvement. Studies of European American families had found that gender stereotypes are associated with more unsolicited homework help with daughters (Bhanot & Jovanovic, 2005; Lindberg et al., 2008). In contrast, our results suggest that Latina mothers’ beliefs about male superiority in math lead to mothers becoming less engaged with their daughters’ math at home. The implication is the mothers are more likely to disengage from working on math with daughters when they believe that math is not as important for girls, and that they are not as good in math as boys. Low educational attainment may partially explain the difference between the mothers in our study and those in prior studies.

Although maternal math gender stereotypes predicted changes in mothers’ involvement, they were not associated with their child’s perceptions of math ability across the middle school transition. This finding is inconsistent with studies of European and European American children that show the detrimental effect of mothers’ math gender stereotypes on their children; when parents endorse gender stereotypes, their daughters express less interest in math and are more influenced by negative stereotypes about males being better at math (Jacobs, Davis-Kean, Bleeker, Eccles, & Malanchuk, 2005; Tomasetto et al., 2011). Similarly, prior studies suggest that when Mexican American mothers endorse more gender role attitudes, so do their adolescent sons and daughters (Updegraff & Umaña-Taylor, 2015). However, in the current sample, maternal gender stereotypes that favor boys did not appear to put either girls or boys at risk of lowered perceived ability. This may be due to cultural variation in how gender roles are interpreted (described earlier) or in cultural differences between children born in the United States and their Mexican-born parents. More in-depth studies are needed to fully interpret this finding.

Limitations

The results are limited by our sampling, and by the type of data that were collected. For example, we measured only one aspect of maternal involvement and did not distinguish between solicited and unsolicited help. In addition, this study did not collect data from fathers or other family members, and may only accurately describe mechanisms in households where the father is absent or not actively involved in the child’s education.

Sample sizes limited our power to detect only the largest moderated effects and limited our ability to test for cross-cultural invariance. Although multiple models fit the data equally well, the sample size prompted focus on the most parsimonious model. The current study was not designed to explain the mechanisms through which mothers’ math gender stereotypes influence their children. However, others suggest that parents may influence their child’s gender development through role modeling and access to opportunities, rather than in direct messages or differential treatment (Tenenbaum & Leaper, 2002). Other studies suggest that the mechanism is through children’s own gender stereotypes (Updegraff & Umaña-Taylor, 2015). These associations need to be explored via additional analyses.

Conclusion

This study examined mother-child relationships across the transition from elementary to middle school in a sample of mostly immigrant Latina mothers and their mostly U.S.-born children. The results show that mothers’ traditional gender beliefs can have a negative impact on mothers’ involvement with their daughters’ math, but not on their involvement with sons’ math, or on their child’s math confidence. They also show that maternal involvement in math at home has a positive effect on both girls’ and boys’ perceptions of their own math ability. The findings show the need for additional studies of parental gender stereotypes, and suggest the importance of examining how beliefs and behaviors influence each other over time.

Footnotes

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the research team of Eloy Ortiz, Yethzéll Díaz, Seow Ling Ong, Giselle Padilla, Sylvia Reyes, and Gina Lepore, as well as the children and mothers who participated, and the teachers and school staff for their help with recruiting participants.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This project was supported by a grant to Jill Denner and Brett Laursen from the U.S. National Science Foundation (1248598). Brett Laursen also received support from the U.S. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (HD068421).

Author Biographies

Jill Denner is a senior research scientist at ETR (Education, Training, and Research), a non-profit organization in California. She does applied research on how to increase diversity in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields. Her current studies focus on how children learn while programming computer games, the role of peers and families in children’s STEM education pathways, and increasing diversity in community college computer science classes.

Brett Laursen is a professor of psychology and director of graduate training at Florida Atlantic University. His research focuses on parent-child and peer relationships during childhood and adolescence, and the influence of these relationships on social and academic adjustment. He is the Editor-in-Chief at the International Journal of Behavioral Development.

Daniel Dickson is a doctoral candidate in the psychology department at Florida Atlantic University. He conducts longitudinal statistical analyses to model the influence of parent-child and peer-child relationships on human development.

Amy C. Hartl completed her doctorate in the psychology department at Florida Atlantic University. Her research uses advanced developmental methodology to analyze adolescent friendship dynamics and the effects of peer relationships on adolescent adjustment.

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