# The Impact of Parental Mathematical Education Anxiety and Positive Suggestion Intervention on Children’s Mathematics Achievement

## TL;DR

Parental math anxiety negatively affects children's math performance, and positive suggestions from parents can help or hurt depending on specific conditions.

## Contribution

This study introduces PMEA as a distinct construct and identifies nuanced intervention effects based on child type and suggestion frequency.

## Key findings

- PMEA is a unique and significant predictor of children’s math achievement, separate from general anxiety.
- Positive suggestions can backfire for non-math-difficult children with high-anxiety parents.
- Math-difficult children in high-anxiety homes benefit from more frequent positive suggestions.

## Abstract

Parental educational anxiety poses a significant risk to children’s academic development. This two-stage study first establishes Parental Mathematics Education Anxiety (PMEA) as a unique construct and then examines the complex effects of a positive suggestion intervention. Study 1, a questionnaire-based investigation, revealed that PMEA is a significant and independent negative predictor of children’s mathematics achievement, distinct from parents’ general state anxiety or their own mathematics anxiety. It also identified socioeconomic factors, such as family income and parental education, as key drivers of PMEA. Study 2 employed an experimental design to test an intervention, revealing that the effectiveness of positive suggestions is not universal but is significantly moderated by the three-way interaction of PMEA level, child type (with/without math learning difficulties), and suggestion frequency. Notably, for non-math-difficult children, frequent positive suggestions from high-anxiety parents were found to be potentially detrimental (a “backfire effect”), whereas for math-difficult children in high-anxiety homes, a higher frequency of suggestion was necessary to yield benefits. These findings deepen the understanding of PMEA’s mechanisms and underscore the necessity of moving beyond one-size-fits-all approaches toward differentiated, context-aware intervention strategies in family education.