Parental Math Anxiety May Influence Children’s Numerical Anxiety, Study Reveals
Bad at Maths? Parents’ Anxiety May Be to Blame, Study Finds
(By Victoria Allen, Science Editor for the Daily Mail)
Published: 15:36 GMT, 3 February 2025 | Updated: 15:36 GMT, 3 February 2025
If mental arithmetic leaves you sweating or panicked, your children might pay the price. A new study reveals that parents with “maths anxiety” tend to raise children who struggle more with numbers—a cycle that could impact their academic and financial futures.
Parental maths anxiety can influence children’s numeracy skills from a young age (stock image).
Key Findings
Researchers tracked 126 Italian parents and their children over five years, assessing early numeracy skills and long-term performance. They found:
- Preschool Impact: By ages 3–5, children of maths-anxious parents scored lower in counting and simple sums.
- Long-Term Effects: Poor early skills predicted weaker maths abilities at age 8, including struggles with times tables and mental arithmetic.
- Root Cause: Parents’ avoidance of maths activities—or lack of enthusiasm during them—may hinder children’s development, even if they try to engage.
What Is Maths Anxiety?
Up to 30% of people experience physical symptoms like sweating, rapid heartbeat, or nausea when faced with numbers. This anxiety often leads to avoiding numeracy tasks, inadvertently modeling fear for children.
Why It Matters
Maths skills are critical for adulthood, influencing financial decisions, career paths, and earnings. Study co-author Dr. Kinga Morsanyi of Loughborough University warns that early struggles can snowball: “Children who fear maths early on often carry this into later life
