Parents' Responses to Children's Math Performance in Early Elementary School: Links with Parents' Math Beliefs and Children's Math Adjustment

A new parent-report measure was used to examine parents' person and process responses to children's math performance. Twice over a year from 2017 to 2020, American parents (N = 546; 80% mothers, 20% other caregivers; 62% white, 21% Black, 17% other) reported their responses and math beliefs; their children's (M[subscript age] = 7.48 years; 50% girls, 50% boys) math adjustment was also assessed. Factor analyses indicated parents' person and process responses to children's math success and failure represent four distinct, albeit related, responses. Person (vs. process) responses were less common and less likely to accompany views of math ability as malleable and failure as constructive (|r|s = 0.16-0.23). The more parents used person responses, the poorer children's later math adjustment (|[beta]|s = 0.06-0.16).