A family math intervention fosters linear growth in parent–child math talk across four time points

Family math engagement interventions can effectively encourage parent-child math talk, yet no known studies have modeled the shape of this growth. Modeling growth demonstrates how change occurs, not just that it occurred, and is especially valuable in intervention studies to account for growth in families not exposed to the intervention. The present study examined the shape of growth in parent and child math talk across four time points in a pilot study of Math Made 4 Me, a 6-week program tailoring math supports (short video clips and texts) to each family's typical routines. Participants were 76 mostly White, middle-income parents and their 4-year-old children in the United States. At four time points (pretest, after 2 and 4 weeks of intervention, and posttest), parent-child dyads in the Math Made 4 Me and control conditions were videotaped completing picture-sharing and free-play tasks, and their utterances were transcribed and coded for math content. We tested linear and quadratic mixed-effects models and found that linear models best explained growth in parent-child math talk in the Math Made 4 Me condition, while parents and children in the control condition showed no change in math talk. This linear growth was particularly visible in three math subdomains: (a) counting and cardinality, (b) comparison, and (c) addition and subtraction and differed across observational contexts. This study provides valuable insight into the shape of growth in parent-child math talk and contributes evidence to how interventions can increase math talk both in high-frequency subdomains (counting and cardinality) and low-frequency subdomains (comparison, addition, and subtraction). (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved)

Intervention (counseling · Latent growth modeling · Linear growth · Math education · Observational study · Psychological intervention · Quadratic equation · Subtraction · Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder · Cognitive and developmental aspects of mathematical skills · Family and Disability Support Research