Over-engaged parenting and science achievement in early childhood

获得科学知识和技能需要在挑战中坚持不懈，然而在美国，父母介入并为孩子解决问题已经变得越来越普遍。在不同的社会经济背景下，这种过度投入的养育方式会导致学龄前儿童的毅力和执行功能较低，在小学的阅读和数学成绩也较差。然而，之前的研究工作对驱动过度投入的养育方式和孩子对此的反应的信念留下了重大的理论和实践问题。我们的研究旨在通过研究过度投入的养育方式的原因和后果来填补这些空白，这样我们就可以更好地了解照顾者如何在孩子入学时支持他们在科学上的成功。本项目由美国国家科学基金会EDU核心研究（ECR）项目支持。ECR项目强调在该领域产生基础知识的基础STEM教育研究。投资于至关重要、广泛和持久的关键领域：STEM学习和STEM学习环境，扩大STEM参与和STEM劳动力发展，以及通过发现研究PreK-12 （DRK-12）计划，该计划支持在正式的STEM学习环境中进行应用研究。本研究将采用多种方法揭示照顾者过度投入行为及其对儿童反应的基本认知机制。在研究1中，研究人员将采用观察和实验的方法来测试父母对学习和任务结果的信念是否驱动了他们在科学和非科学任务上的过度投入行为。在研究2中，研究人员将进行实验，以确定哪些推论驱动过度投入的父母对幼儿科学坚持的消极影响，以及父母如何在不破坏孩子动机的情况下参与孩子的生活。在研究3中，研究人员将进行一项纵向研究，评估学龄前过度投入的父母教育与儿童在向正规学校过渡期间的科学参与和成就之间的关系。这些研究将与社区伙伴、学校和科学博物馆合作进行，以确保包括来自不同背景的家庭。综合起来，这些结果将为照顾者如何培养幼儿的科学动机和成就提供关键的见解。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Acquiring scientific knowledge and skills requires persisting through challenges, yet it has become increasingly common for parents in the United States to step in and solve problems for their children. This type of over-engaged parenting leads preschool-age children to have lower persistence, lower executive function, and worse reading and math achievement in grade school across socioeconomic backgrounds. However, prior work leaves open major theoretical and practical questions about the beliefs that drive over-engaged parenting and children’s response to it. Our research aims to fill these gaps by examining the causes and consequences of over-engaged parenting so that we can better understand how caregivers can support children's scientific success upon school entry. This project is supported by NSF's EDU Core Research (ECR) program. The ECR program emphasizes fundamental STEM education research that generates foundational knowledge in the field. Investments are made in critical areas that are essential, broad, and enduring: STEM learning and STEM learning environments, broadening participation in STEM, and STEM workforce development, and by the Discovery Research PreK-12 (DRK-12) program, which supports applied research in formal STEM learning environments. The proposed research will take a multi-method approach to uncover the basic cognitive mechanisms underlying caregivers' over-engaged behavior and children's response to it. In Study 1, researchers will employ observational and experimental methods to test whether parents’ beliefs about learning and task outcome drive their over-engaged behavior on science and non-science tasks. In Study 2, researchers will conduct experiments to determine which inferences drive the demotivating effects of over-engaged parenting on young children’s science persistence, as well as how parents can be involved in children's lives without undermining their motivation. In Study 3, researchers will run a longitudinal study assessing how over-engaged parenting during the preschool years relates to children’s science engagement and achievement during the transition to formal schooling. These studies will be conducted in collaboration with community partners, schools, and science museums to ensure the inclusion of families from diverse backgrounds. Taken together, the results will provide critical insight into how caregivers can foster young children's science motivation and achievement.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.