Parental Occupation and Children's School Outcomes in Math

32 Pages Posted: 2 Apr 2018

See all articles by Gianna Claudia Giannelli

Gianna Claudia Giannelli

University of Florence - Dipartimento di Studi sullo Stato; IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Chiara Rapallini

University of Florence

Abstract

We find a positive relationship between math attitude and students' math scores using data obtained from PISA 2012 and a 2SLS model. Math attitude is approximated by three subjective measures: parental attitude and student instrumental motivation, which assess beliefs about math importance for the job market, and student math anxiety. The presence of one family member in a math-related career is our instrumental variable. Regardless of the proxy that is used for math attitude, an increase of one standard deviation increases the student score by at least 40 points, the equivalent of one year of schooling.

Keywords: parental attitude toward math, student instrumental motivation, math anxiety, math-related career, math scores

JEL Classification: I21, J13, J24

Suggested Citation

Giannelli, Gianna Claudia and Rapallini, Chiara, Parental Occupation and Children's School Outcomes in Math. IZA Discussion Paper No. 11395, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3153359 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3153359

Gianna Claudia Giannelli (Contact Author)

University of Florence - Dipartimento di Studi sullo Stato ( email )

Via S. Caterina d'Alessandria 3
Firenze 50129
Italy
+39-055-4622926 (Phone)
+39-055-472102 (Fax)

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

Chiara Rapallini

University of Florence ( email )

Piazza di San Marco, 4
Florence, 50121
Italy

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
76
Abstract Views
533
Rank
571,914
PlumX Metrics