Parents’ perceived goals for early mathematics learning and their relations with children's motivation to learn mathematics

This study aimed to develop a scale for measuring parents' perceived goals for early mathematics learning and to examine whether parents' perceived goals were related to their socioeconomic background and their children's motivation to learn mathematics. Three types of goals—attitude, reasoning, and efficiency goals—were identified in two samples of parents of young children. The findings showed that, although all groups of parents rated efficiency as the least important goal, parents with different levels of education showed significant differences in how they rated the importance of efficiency goal. The importance that the parents attached to the three types of goals interacted with each other in predicting the strength of their children's motivation to learn mathematics. Implications on how to maintain young children's motivation to learn mathematics are discussed.