Parent brochures and a website led teens to take more maths and science.
HelpedThe short version
Teens whose parents got brochures and a website took more maths and science in their last two school years.
- 188
- parents and high school students in Wisconsin
- Randomised
- groups picked at random
- Recorded
- behaviour was recorded
The study
Who took part
188 students and their parents took part, in Wisconsin in the United States. The students were about 15 when the study began, and 9 in 10 were European American.
What they did
Parents in one group were sent two brochures and given a website, during 10th and 11th grade. The materials explained why maths and science matter for daily life and jobs. Parents in the other group got none of these.
What happened
Students whose parents got the materials took about 8.3 semesters of maths and science in their last two school years, against 7.5. Mothers in that group also rated maths and science as more useful for their child.
What the study found
- HelpedGoals
Teens whose parents got brochures and a website took more maths and science in their last two school years.
Randomised trial of 188 parents and high school students in Wisconsin · vs teens whose parents got nothing extra · behaviour was recorded
- HelpedMotivation
Mothers who got the materials rated maths and science as more useful for their child than other mothers did.
Randomised trial of 188 parents and high school students in Wisconsin · vs mothers who got nothing extra · behaviour was recorded
How solid is this?
- Groups picked at random
- Behaviour was recorded
Source
Helping Parents to Motivate Adolescents in Mathematics and Science: An Experimental Test of a Utility-Value Intervention (2012)
DOI: 10.1177/0956797611435530 (opens in a new tab)
