Parental influences on the mathematics selfconcept of high achieving adolescent girls. Unpublished doctoral dissertation

This study investigated maternal and paternal influences on the mathemat-ics self-concept of high-achieving adolescent girls. The differential effects of parent-daughter identification, parent mathematics self-concept, and par-ent expectations on adolescent mathematics self-concept were examined in a sample of 165 high-ability adolescent girls and their parents. For both mothers and fathers, parent mathematics self-concept was related to par-ent expectations regardless of the degree of identification between parent and daughter. Parent expectations in turn linked to daughter mathematics self-concept. There was little evidence that degree of parent-daughter iden-tification influenced the relations among parent mathematics self-concept, parent expectations, and adolescent mathematics self-concept. These results confirm and extend previous findings regarding the importance of parent ex-pectations in shaping children’s conceptions of their mathematics abilities. Many adolescent girls with high academic ability have poor self-concepts of their mathematics ability (Eccles, 1985; Kimball, 1989; Sherman, 1980). Academically capable girls who do well in mathe-matics nevertheless often lack self-confidence in their abilities, tend to attribute their success to effort rather than ability, and have nega-tive expectations for their future success (Hanna & Sonnenschein