Research Question: 4 How do parental involvement, attitude towards math-

achievement of secondary school students in India?

The present study investigated the relationship between mathematics anxiety, attitude towards mathematics, and parental involvement. The findings revealed a significant positive correlation between mathematics anxiety and attitude towards

mathematics, that is higher the anxiety in relation to mathematics, the more positive the attitude towards mathematics. This contradicts the findings of most earlier studies. For example, Durrani and Tariq (2009) found that greater mathematics anxiety was

associated with poorer attitude towards mathematics in the context of the development of perceptions of competence in numeracy skills among undergraduate students at the University of Central Lancashire. Kargar et al. (2010) also found a negative correlation between mathematics anxiety and attitude towards mathematics among university students in Malaysia. The participants in Durrani and Tariq’s (2009) and Kargar et al.(2010) studies were undergraduate students, whereas the participants of this study were Year 9 and Year 11 students in India.

mathematics anxiety scale with three subscales namely, maths text anxiety (measuring fear pertaining to preparing for or taking a test in mathematics/numeracy), numerical task anxiety (measuring apprehension relating to execution of numerical operations), and maths course anxiety (measuring stress associated with studying and learning in or for a maths class. They used an attitude towards mathematics scale with four subscales measuring, personal confidence about the subject matter, usefulness of the subject’s content, motivation to pursue studies in mathematics, and enjoyment of

mathematics/numeracy to evaluate the variable attitude towards mathematics (Durrani & Tariq, 2009). Kargar et al. (2010) measured mathematics anxiety using Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale (MARS-R) with two subscales; Learning Math Anxiety scale and Math Evaluation Anxiety scale. The researchers assessed attitude towards mathematics using Mathematics Attitudes Questionnaire (MAQ) with the subscales, Self confidence scale, Value-Enjoyment scale, and Motivation scale (Kargar et al., 2010). In the current study mathematics anxiety was measured by students’ perception of their anxiety, their confidence in learning mathematics, and their motivation, and parents’ perception of their own mathematics anxiety. Attitude towards mathematics was measured in the current study in terms of students’ perception of their general attitude towards maths and success in mathematics, and usefulness of mathematics, students’ perception of their parents’ attitude to maths and child’s maths study, and parents’ perception of their own attitude to maths and child’s maths study.

In summary the key differences in the constructs are that the current study used both students’ and parents’ self reports in measuring the constructs, whereas the Durrani and Tariq’s (2009) and Kargar et al.(2010) studies used only students’ self reports. In this study the measures confidence in mathematics and motivation in mathematics learning were used to assess mathematics anxiety, but the two measures were included in

the Durrani and Tariq’s (2009) and Kargar et al.(2010) studies to evaluate the construct attitudes to mathematics. The measure enjoyment in mathematics was used to assess attitudes to mathematics by Kargar et al. and Durrani and Tariq, not in the current one. In addition, as mentioned earlier, Year 9 and Year 11 students participated in this study, whereas undergraduate students were the participants in Durrani and Tariq’s (2009) and Kargar et al. (2010) studies. These differences in the constructs and their measurement, and the sample could have contributed to the inconsistent results across the studies.

Not much work has been done to understand the relationship between mathematics anxiety and parental involvement. This study found that the relationship between mathematics anxiety and parental involvement was not significant. The finding of this study is not consistent with the general consensus of the literature. For example, this finding is not in agreement with the results of Vukovic, Roberts, and Wright (2013). They studied the role of mathematics anxiety in the relationship between parental involvement and mathematics achievement among second grade students and their parents in the United States. The researchers found that parental involvement reduces mathematics anxiety of the participants particularly for more difficult mathematics topics. The participants in Vukovic, Robert, and Wright’s (2013) study were of an ethnic minority and from a low-income background living in north-eastern United States. The participants in this study were students in Year 9 and Year 11 and their parents in India from a middle class socio-economic group, so the disparity is perhaps unsurprising. In addition, Vukovic, Robert, and Wright (2013) measured mathematics anxiety using items tapping worry and physical symptoms in relation to anxiety. Parental involvement was measured in terms of parent’s involvement in child’s education, home support and expectations, and valence (beliefs) toward school. In the present study mathematics anxiety was measured by students’ perception of their anxiety, their confidence in

learning mathematics, and their motivation, and parents’ perception of their

mathematics anxiety. Parental involvement was measured in the current study in terms of parental participation in school-related activities (such as monitoring of home study and attending parent-teacher interviews), parental encouragement of academic success, and parental expectations of educational attainment and parenting style. These

differences in the measurement of the constructs and the sample may have contributed to the different results.

In the Indian scenario education is considered a responsibility, a duty to the family, a way of gaining social mobility and acceptance, and a form of recognition (Faria, 2001). Higher education is associated with high social status, financial gain, and improved career opportunities (Dhesi, 2001). Students are, therefore, under pressure from family,teachers and society to excel in their studies. They also face strong competition from their peers to achieve more in their studies. High achievement in mathematics is considered

important for further education and career opportunities. All these factors could contribute to anxiety in mathematics among the students. The influence of parental involvement on mathematics anxiety may be insignificant in comparison to other factors described here and could be the reason for the non-significant relationship between parental involvement and mathematics anxiety.

The study, however, showed a significant positive relationship between attitude towards mathematics and parental involvement. In the Indian cultural context, parents typically have high expectations for their children’s educational achievement. They convey their expectations to their children through regular reinforcement of academic success and hard work. The parents in this study were found to not be directly involved in the mathematics learning of their children. Rather they provided extra tutorials in mathematics, and bought books and other materials for their study. Above all, the

parents constantly communicated their expectations to their children and monitored their educational progress. Even though the students are constantly under pressure to excel in their studies and hence likely to have been anxious, the constant communication of parental expectations and academic excellence could contribute to a positive attitude to mathematics in the students by promoting the idea that high achievement in

mathematics is important for further educational opportunities. This could be the reason for the significant association among parental involvement and attitude towards

mathematics in this study.

6.2.5 Research Question: 5 Are there gender differences in relation to any of these variables and/or their relationships?

No gender difference was found in relation to attitude towards mathematics among the participants of the study. This finding was in agreement with the results of previous research studies. For example, Farooq and Shah (2008) found no significant gender difference in attitude towards mathematics among Year 10 students in Pakistan.

Similarly, Mohammed and Waheed (2011), reported that boys and girls at the secondary level in Maldives (an island nation 400 km south-west of India), did not significantly differ in their attitude towards mathematics. The cultural context, in terms of valuing of education and the system of education, in India, Pakistan, and Maldives is comparatively similar. In addition, Tapia (2004) reported no significant difference in attitudes towards mathematics among the male and female undergraduate students in her study in the United States. Nicolaidou and Philippou (2003), in Cyprus, also found no significant difference in attitude towards mathematics between fifth grade boys and girls.

have more positive attitude towards mathematics than their female counterparts

(Thomson, Hillman, & Wernert, 2012). The TIMSS measured students’ attitude towards mathematics in general, their perceptions of the value of mathematics for improving lives, and their self-confidence in mathematics. The present study used the measures, students’ perception of general attitude towards maths and success in maths, and usefulness of mathematics, students’ perception of their parents attitude to maths and their child’s maths study, and parents’ perception of their own attitudes to maths and child’s maths study, to assess attitude towards mathematics among the participants. Self-confidence was not included as a measure to evaluate attitude towards mathematics, and students’ and parents’ self reports were used to measure the construct in the present study. These differences in the conceptualisation and measurement of the construct could have

contributed to the disagreement in the findings. In addition, the differing cultural contexts of India and Australia could have added to the inconsistent findings.

No significant gender difference in mathematics anxiety was observed among the participants in this study. This finding is in agreement with the results of some other studies that have explored gender difference in mathematics anxiety. For example, Chinn (2009) found no significant difference in mathematics anxiety among secondary school students in England and Birgin, Baloglu, Cathoglu, and Gurbuz (2010) found no gender difference in mathematics anxiety among students from Grade 6 to Grade 8 in Turkey. Researchers are not in agreement regarding gender difference in mathematics anxiety among students. For example, some researchers have reported that girls have more mathematics anxiety than boys (e.g., Hopko, 2003; Pajares & Miller, 1994; Tapia, 2004; OECD, 2014), others have reported that boys have more anxiety in mathematics than girls (Deb et al., 2010). Different findings are likely due to the differing

For example, the finding of this study is inconsistent with that of Woodard (2004), who found girls had more mathematics anxiety than boys among post-secondary

developmental mathematics students in the United States (Developmental or remedial mathematics courses have been offered to students who didn’t meet the enrolment criteria to tertiary mathematics courses)(Woodard, 2004). The Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale (MARS) developed by Richardson and Suinn (F. Richardson & Suinn, 1972) was used to measure the mathematics anxiety of students in Woodard’s (2004) study. Richardson and Suinn’s (1972) Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale (MARS) was designed to measure participants’ anxious responses to mathematics in academic and everyday life situations. In the current study mathematics anxiety focussed on mathematics learning contexts and was measured by students’ perception of their anxiety, their confidence in learning mathematics, and their motivation, and parents’ perception of their

mathematics anxiety. Even though the participants in the current study and Woodard (2004) study were secondary school students aged above 13 years, the inconsistent findings could be because of the differences in the measurement of the construct.

This study also failed to find any gender difference in parental involvement among the participants of the study. This finding is consistent with the results of Olatoye and Ogunkola’s (2008) study who found that no gender difference existed in parental involvement for junior secondary school students in Ogun State in Nigeria (Olatoye & Ogunkola, 2008). The result of the current study is however, inconsistent with other studies that have found significant gender differences in parental involvement among the participants. For example, some researchers have found that parents were more involved with their daughters than with sons in school related matters (e.g., Carter &

Wojtkiewicz, 2000; P. Keith & Lichtman, 1994). Both these studies used data from the National Educational Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88) data base. However, the

participants in Carter and Wojtkiewicz’s (2000) study were Grade 8 students in the United States, and Keith and Lichtman’s (1994) study included 8th _grade

Mexican-American students, rather than Years 9 and 11 Indian students. Others have found more parental involvement with sons in terms of academic supervision, higher expectations,and school activities (e.g., Schoolland, 1990; Verma & Gupta, 1990). Both of these studies were conducted among Asian students; Schoolland’s (1990) study included Japanese high school students, whereas participants in Verma and Gupta’s (1990) study were high school students in India. The recent economic and social changes in India have brought about more equal educational opportunities for women. This has resulted in an increase in the number of educated and working women in the present generation and thus parents becoming more equally involved in the education of sons and daughters. This trend is especially so in the state which was the site of the present study. This could have contributed to the absence of any gender difference in parental

involvement among the participants.

Consistent with the findings of Venkatsh and Karimi (2010), who found no gender difference in mathematics achievement among secondary school students from three states Tamilnadu, Kerala, and Karnataka in India, this study also found that the boys and girls did not differ significantly in their achievement in mathematics. Other Indian studies have also failed to find any significant gender difference in mathematics

achievement. For example, Choudhury and Das (2012) also reported the absence of a significant gender difference in mathematics achievement among secondary school students in Assam, India. Elsewhere, Mullis et al. (2000) found no significant gender difference among Turkish students in their mathematics achievement based on the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) data. Contrary to these

mathematics achievement in some countries in the most recent TIMSS (Mullis, Martin, Foy, & Arora, 2012). For example, boys significantly outperformed girls in mathematics in New Zealand, Korea, Lebanon, Italy and Chile. On the other hand, Year 8 girls performance in mathematics was significantly higher than boys in Singapore, Malaysia, Jordan, Indonesia, Bahrain,and Armenia. It appears that in some countries that

participate in TIMSS, gender differences in mathematics achievement have changed over time. Because India has not been a participant in the TIMSS studies, it is not possible to say whether this is also the case in India.

6.2.6 Research Question: 6 Gender differences in the inter-relationship among