If the thought of a math test makes you break out in a cold sweat, Mom or Dad may be partly to blame, according to new research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

每当想到数学测验的时候，你会不会一身冷汗？如果是的话，你爸或你妈可能要承担部分责任——这项研究发表在最新一期《心理科学》期刊上。

A team of researchers led by University of Chicago psychological scientists Sian Beilock and Susan Levinefound that children of math-anxious parents learned less math over the school year and were more likely to be math-anxious themselves—but only when these parents provided frequent help on the child’s math homework.

美国芝加哥大学心理学家Sian Beilock和Susan Levine领导的研究团队发现，当父母对数学存有畏惧心理、表现出“数学焦虑”时（math-anxious），子女读书时学到的数学也越少，并且越有可能感染上“数学焦虑”——尤其是在父母频繁地试图辅导子女的数学功课的情况下。

Previous research from this group has established that when teachers are anxious about math, their students learn less math during the school year. The current study is novel in that it establishes a link between parents’ and children’s math anxiety. These findings suggest that adults’ attitudes toward math can play an important role in children’s math achievement.

以往研究显示，具有“数学焦虑”的教师，带出来的学生在学校里学到的数学也更少；本研究则第一次揭示了家长“数学焦虑”和孩子“数学焦虑”之间的联系，换句话说，成人对于数学的态度，对小孩子的数学成绩影响巨大。

“We often don’t think about how important parents’ own attitudes are in determining their children’s academic achievement. But our work suggests that if a parent is walking around saying ‘Oh, I don’t like math’ or ‘This stuff makes me nervous,’ kids pick up on this messaging and it affects their success,” explained Beilock, professor in psychology¹.

“过去，人们并不认为父母对数学的态度能够决定子女的数学成绩。现在，我们的研究发现，如果父母总是在孩子面前说些‘噢，我不喜欢数学”、“这些数学题弄得我精神紧张”之类的话，那么孩子也会受到这些信息的影响，潜移默化，在数学上的表现越来越差。“Beilock解释说。

“Math-anxious parents may be less effective in explaining math concepts to children, and may not respond well when children make a mistake or solve a problem in a novel way,” added Levine, the Rebecca Anne Boylan Professor of Education and Society in Psychology.

“具有‘数学焦虑’的家长，向孩子解释数学概念时，往往力不从心；当孩子做错了数学题、或是采用了创新方法解答时，这些家长的反应也更迟钝。”Levine补充道。

Four hundred and thirty-eight first- and second-grade students and their primary caregivers participated in the study. Children were assessed in math achievement and math anxiety at both the beginning and end of the school year. As a control, the team also assessed reading achievement, which they found was not related to parents’ math anxiety.

来自438个家庭的孩子和家长参与了这项研究，孩子都是小学一、二年级学生。学年开始时，研究者们记录了每个孩子的数学能力和“数学焦虑”程度（math anxiety），学年结束时，又重测了一遍这些指标；此外，研究者们还记录了孩子的阅读能力，作为对照指标（父母的“数学焦虑”不影响子女阅读能力的发展）。

Parents completed a questionnaire about their own nervousness and anxiety around math and how often they helped their children with math homework.

同时，这些孩子的父母需要完成一份问卷，这份问卷测量了父母的“数学焦虑”程度，以及父母辅导孩子数学功课的频率。

The researchers believe the link between parents’ math anxiety and children’s math performance stems more from math attitudes than genetics.

研究者们认为，父母具有“数学焦虑”，对子女数学成绩的影响，更多地是由于（畏惧数学的）态度在起作用，而非遗传在起作用。

“Although it is possible that there is a genetic² component³ to math anxiety,” the researchers wrote, “the fact that parents’ math anxiety negatively affected⁴ children only when they frequently helped them with math homework points to the need for interventions⁵ focused on both decreasing parents’ math anxiety and scaffolding their skills in homework help.”

“尽管‘数学焦虑’可能在一定程度上受到遗传因素的影响，”研究者们写道，“然而事实上，我们的研究发现，只有当父母频繁地辅导子女数学功课时，才会把自身的‘数学焦虑’传染到子女身上——说明父母在辅导子女数学功课时流露出来的、对数学的畏惧态度，才是真正的罪魁祸首。未来工作不仅应该关注如何降低父母的‘数学焦虑’，还应该关注如何提高父母辅导功课的技巧。”

Maloney said the study suggests that parent preparation is essential to effective math homework help. “We can’t just tell parents—especially those who are anxious about math—‘Get involved,’” Maloney explained. “We need to develop better tools to teach parents how to most effectively help their children with math.”

另一名主要作者、芝加哥大学博士后Maloney表示，父母在辅导子女数学功课之前，应该做好更多准备。“我们不能只告诉父母去参与，尤其是患有‘数学焦虑’的父母。”Maloney解释道，“我们要开发一些效果更好的工具，帮助父母如何有效地帮助子女提高数学成绩。”

These tools might include math books, computer and traditional board games, or Internet apps that “allow parents to interact with their children around math in positive ways,” the researchers wrote.

研究者们建议，比如借助数学参考书、学习软件、网络应用、甚至桌面游戏的形式，父母可以更积极、更有效地与子女互动，以利于数学学习。