Talent or effort? Parents’ explanations of their children’s mathematical performance in relation to mathematical competence

We aimed to identify patterns of explanation that parents applied in order to explain their child’s mathematical success and failure and their contribution to parental perceptions of the child’s mathematical competence. It was found that the parents with a talent-based explanation or a combination (both talent and effort) explanation for success had a significantly higher opinion of their child’s mathematical competence across the child’s compulsory school years than did those parents who had an effort-based explanation for success. Explanation patterns seem to represent fairly constant interpretation modes which construe parental confidence in the child’s competencies, at least in mathematics.