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1. Mothers’ and fathers’ engagement in math activities with their toddler sons and daughters: The moderating role of parental math beliefs

   https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1124056  

   Silver, Alex M.; Chen, Yu; Smith, Darcy K.; Tamis-LeMonda, Catherine S.; Cabrera, Natasha; Libertus, Melissa E. (March 2023, Frontiers in Psychology)

   Parents’ beliefs about the importance of math predicts their math engagement with their children. However, most work focuses on mothers’ math engagement with preschool- and school-aged children, leaving gaps in knowledge about fathers and the experiences of toddlers. We examined differences in mothers’ and fathers’ ( N = 94) engagement in math- and non-math activities with their two-year-old girls and boys. Parents reported their beliefs about the importance of math and literacy for young children and their frequency of home learning activities. Parents of sons did not differ in their engagement in math activities from parents of daughters. Mothers reported engaging more frequently in math activities with their toddlers than fathers did, but the difference reduced when parents endorsed stronger beliefs about the importance of math for children. Even at very early ages, children experience vastly different opportunities to learn math in the home, with math-related experiences being shaped by both parent gender and parents’ beliefs. 

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2. Gender Differences, or Lack Thereof, in the Early Home Science Environment

   https://doi.org/10.1002/icd.70034  

   Varnell, Suzanne; Kumar, Sona C; Westerberg, Lauren; Ehrman, Patrick; Herrera, Fabiola; Antony, Chellam; Closser, Avery H; Clark, Elizabeth; Purpura, David J (May 2025, Infant and Child Development)

   ABSTRACT As women are underrepresented in STEM and the home learning environment has been associated with children's science knowledge, this study focuses on the home science environment as an area where gender differences may occur. To identify potential antecedents of gender differences, this study examined whether there were mean differences in the frequency of parent engagement in science content, processes and resources by child gender and parent relation. 906 parents of 1‐ to 6‐year‐old children (67% female, 86% White, 50% female children) completed a cross‐sectional online survey about the home science environment. Results indicate no significant differences in the frequency of science engagement between parents of girls and parents of boys and between mothers and fathers (η² < 0.01). We did not find any significant gender differences in parents' reports of their frequency of engagement in early home science activities across content, processes and resources. 

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3. Remote Work, Gender Ideologies, and Fathers’ Participation in Childcare during the COVID-19 Pandemic

   https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci13030166  

   Carlson, Daniel L.; McPherson, Skye; Petts, Richard J. (March 2024, Social Sciences)

   Jacobs, Jerry (Ed.)

   During the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, remote work became the new reality for many fathers. Though time availability theory suggests that this newfound flexibility should lead to more domestic labor on the part of fathers, many were skeptical that fathers would step up to shoulder the load at home. Indeed, the findings are decidedly mixed on the association of fathers’ remote work with their performance of housework and childcare. Nonetheless, research has yet to consider how contextual factors, such as fathers’ gender ideologies and mothers’ employment, may condition these associations. Using data from Wave 1 of the Study on U.S. Parents’ Divisions of Labor During COVID-19 (SPDLC), we examine how gender ideology moderates the association between fathers’ remote work and their performance and share of childcare during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic in both sole-earner and dual-earner families. The results show, for sole-earning fathers and dual-earner fathers with egalitarian gender attitudes, that the frequency of remote work was positively associated with fathers performing more, and a greater share of, childcare during the pandemic. Yet, only dual-earner fathers with egalitarian gender attitudes performed an equal share of childcare in their families. These findings suggest that the pandemic provided structural opportunities for fathers, particularly egalitarian-minded fathers, to be the equally engaged parents they desired. 

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4. Impact of mothers’ and fathers’ math self-concept of ability, child-specific beliefs and behaviors on girls’ and boys’ math self-concept of ability

   https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0317837  

   Feige, Paulina; Watermann, Rainer; Simpkins, Sandra; Eccles, Jacquelynne Sue; Oppermann, Elisa (February 2025, PLOS ONE)

   Moulin, Leonard (Ed.)

   The present study investigated the longitudinal direct and indirect relations between mothers’ and fathers’ math ability self-concept, their child-specific math performance expectations and encouragement of math and science-related activities at home, and girls’ and boys’ math ability self-concept. Structural equation models were performed with longitudinal data from three waves of the Childhood and Beyond Study (CAB). The final sample consisted of 517 children and their mothers and fathers. The majority of children attended 2nd (26.1%), 3rd (25.5%) or 5th (40.4%) grade at first measurement point. Our results suggest that mothers and fathers with higher math ability self-concepts had higher expectations of their sons and encouraged their sons more, but not their daughters. Fathers’ math ability self-concept was indirectly related to the self-concept of their sons and this association was mediated by performance expectations. Furthermore, both boys and girls profited from their fathers’ expectations and girls benefitted from their fathers’ encouragement of math and science-related activities at home. In contrast, we found no effects from mothers’ beliefs and behaviors on child’s math ability self-concept. The findings underscore the relevance of fathers’ educational participation in the development of the math self-concept of ability of their children. 

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5. Early Sources of Children’s Math Achievement in Chile: The Role of Parental Beliefs and Feelings about Math

   https://doi.org/10.1080/10409289.2020.1799617  

   del Río, M. Francisca; Susperreguy, María Inés; Strasser, Katherine; Cvencek, Dario; Iturra, Carolina; Gallardo, Ismael; Meltzoff, Andrew N. (January 2020, Early Education and Development)

   Research Findings: Two hundred and sixty-seven Chilean children from grades 1–3, their fathers and their mothers completed measures of implicit and explicit math-related beliefs (math–gender stereotypes, math selfconcepts) and feelings (math anxiety), as well as tests of mathematical achievement. Children, fathers, and mothers exhibited stereotypes that link math with males. More specifically, mothers identified more with language than with math, while fathers and children identified more with math than with language. Path analyses models revealed that children’s explicit math self-concepts significantly predicted their actual math achievement. Children’s explicit self-concept was, in turn, explained marginally by the mathematical anxiety of their mothers. Practice or Policy: These results contribute to our understanding of the relation between parental and children’s beliefs and children’s math achievement during early elementary school years. In countries such as Chile, with a significant gender gap in math achievement, these findings may highlight relevant aspects to consider when designing interventions aimed at educational equity and providing equal mathematical learning opportunities to boys and girls. 

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