The Impact of Parental Mathematical Expectations on Young Children's Number Sense: The Serial Mediating Role of Parental Mathematical Involvement and Children’s Self-Regulation
Abstract
Number sense is regarded as the fundamental basis for young children's formal mathematical learning. Grounded in the Family Cultural Capital Theory, this study investigated the effects of parental expectations, parental involvements and self-regulation on the number sense of 847 young children in a city of Eastern China. The results indicated that: (1) parental mathematical expectations, mathematical involvement, and chil- dren’s self-regulation directly influenced young children's number sense; (2) parental mathematical involvement mediated the relationship between parental expectations and number sense; and (3) parental mathematical in- volvement and children’s self-regulation sequentially mediated the relationship between parental mathematical expectations and children’s number sense. The findings suggested that parents should maintain posi- tive mathematical expectations while simultaneously fostering the development of children's self-regulation and number sense by increasing high-quality parental mathematical involvement, particularly through in- formal mathematical games.
Document Type: Original article
Cited as: Zheng, Y., Lv, Y., Li, J., Zhou, J. (2026). The Impact of Parental Mathe- matical Expectations on Young Children's Number Sense: The Serial Mediating Role of Parental Mathemati- cal Involvement and Children's Self- Regulation. Educational Research Ad- vances, 1(3), 186-196. https://doi.org/10.46690/era.2026.03.05Number sense is regarded as the fundamental basis for young children's formal mathematical learning. Grounded in the Family Cultural Capital Theory, this study investigated the effects of parental expectations, parental involvements and self-regulation on the number sense of 847 young children in a city of Eastern China. The results indicated that: (1) parental mathematical expectations, mathematical involvement, and chil- dren’s self-regulation directly influenced young children's number sense; (2) parental mathematical involvement mediated the relationship between parental expectations and number sense; and (3) parental mathematical in- volvement and children’s self-regulation sequentially mediated the relationship between parental mathematical expectations and children’s number sense. The findings suggested that parents should maintain posi- tive mathematical expectations while simultaneously fostering the development of children's self-regulation and number sense by increasing high-quality parental mathematical involvement, particularly through in- formal mathematical games.
Document Type: Original article
Cited as: Zheng, Y., Lv, Y., Li, J., Zhou, J. (2026). The Impact of Parental Mathe- matical Expectations on Young Children's Number Sense: The Serial Mediating Role of Parental Mathemati- cal Involvement and Children's Self- Regulation. Educational Research Ad- vances, 1(3), 186-196. https://doi.org/10.46690/era.2026.03.05
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.46690/era.2026.03.05Keywords:
parental mathematical expectations, parental mathematical involvement, self-regulation, number sens, young childrenDownloads
References
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