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Children who have a 'harmonious' relationship with their parents do better in maths, study finds

Low ability in mathematics later in life generally stems from issues in childhood
Low ability in mathematics later in life generally stems from issues in childhood

Children who have a “harmonious” relationship with their parents do better in maths, a study has found.

Youngsters who get on well with their mothers and fathers made a third more progress than their peers who have more fractious relationships, researchers at Sussex University found.

This could be because children who have a good relationship with their parents are better supported through the transition between primary and secondary school, they said.

Academics were investigating why the UK is in a “maths crisis” with many teenagers and adults underperforming in numeracy and literacy.

“Recent statistics show that around half of working-age adults in the UK have maths skills no better than six-year-old children, and only 22 per cent have the skills expected of an ‘average’ 16-year-old, a 4 per cent  decrease from 8 years prior, suggesting that the problem is getting worse,” the report said.

Since low ability in mathematics later in life generally stems from issues in childhood, researchers looked at a range of factors that might shape this such as parent-child relationships, school involvement and the level of parental education.

The research, published by the Royal Society, adjusted their models to control for socio-economic status, the level of parental education and the child’s IQ.

“A positive (harmonious) parent–child relationship may mean that parents are perhaps more compassionate and accommodating when responding to their changing needs,” the report said.

“It could be that when the changes in an adolescent’s needs are appropriately met by their social environment, the transition to secondary education is more successful, and as such, is associated with increased maths attainment.”

The advantage of having the best-rated harmonious relationship with parents compared to the worst-rated was equal to a difference of 0.152 national curriculum levels at age 11, the report said.

Children usually progress by 0.5 levels per year, so this difference in attainment "would be equivalent to almost a third of a year for the best- and worst-rated children".

Researchers noted that the impact of a positive parent-child relationship was not as significant an indicator of a pupil’s ability in maths as the parents own level of qualifications.

Danielle Evans, researcher in achievement in mathematics at the University of Sussex, said: “A more harmonious parent-child relationship, greater parental involvement in school activities in year six, and higher parental educational qualifications were all associated with better maths grades in SATs exams, and were associated with children progressing at a quicker rate."