Your kid's love for maths may up his/her positive emotions: Study

Does your child love to study mathematics and can solve sums in a snap?

If yes, then it's a new good news, as a recent study reveals that kids who enjoy and take pride in maths, may achieve better grades that significantly increases their positive emotions.

The study further revealed that successful performance in maths increased students' positive emotions and decreased their negative emotions over the years as emotions influence adolescents' achievement.

Researchers focused on achievement in maths, which is not only important for education and economic productivity and is also known to prompt strong emotional reactions in students in the study appeared in the journal Child Development.

"We found that emotions influenced students' math achievement over the years," said lead researcher Reinhard Pekrun from the University of Munich in Germany.

"Students with higher intelligence had better grades and test scores, but those who also enjoyed and took pride in math had even better achievement. Students who experienced anger, anxiety, shame, boredom, or hopelessness had lower achievement," Pekrun added.

The team included annual assessments of emotions and achievement in maths in 3,425 German students from grades five through nine.

The students' self-reported emotions were measured by questionnaires and their achievement was assessed by year-end grades and scores in math test.

The study also found that achievement affected students' emotions over time.

"Successful performance in math increased students' positive emotions and decreased their negative emotions over the years," explained co-author of the study Stephanie Lichtenfeld from the University of Munich.

"In contrast, students with poor grades and test scores suffered from a decline in positive emotions and an increase in negative emotions, such as math anxiety and math boredom. Thus, these students become caught in a downward spiral of negative emotion and poor achievement," Lichtenfeld added.

The results suggested that emotions influence adolescents' achievement over and above the effects of general cognitive ability and prior accomplishments, the authors note.

The study's authors recommend that educators, administrators, and parents work to strengthen students' positive emotions and minimise negative emotions related to school subjects, for example, by helping students gain a greater sense of control over their performance.