A groundbreaking new study published in BMC Psychology is reshaping our understanding of the dynamic interplay between parental involvement, teacher support, and mathematics achievement among students. Conducted by researchers İlter, Aksoy, and Ceylan, this research dives deeply into how the psychological constructs of academic self-efficacy and academic buoyancy serve as pivotal mediators in this complex relationship. By elucidating these mechanisms, the study offers profound implications for educators, parents, and policymakers aiming to enhance educational outcomes in mathematics—a subject often notorious for its difficulty and high failure rates.
Mathematics performance, a quintessential academic indicator, is influenced by a multitude of factors. This study ambitiously seeks to untangle how external social support systems—specifically parental involvement and teacher support—contribute not merely directly, but through shaping students’ psychological resilience and belief in their own academic capacities. The concept of academic self-efficacy refers to a student’s belief in their ability to successfully complete academic tasks and challenges. Academic buoyancy, on the other hand, pertains to the student’s capacity to successfully overcome everyday academic setbacks and pressures. Together, these internal factors form a psychological buffer and motivational engine that ultimately impact learning outcomes.
Parental involvement has long been recognized as an essential ingredient in the recipe for student success, but this study adds a nuanced understanding about the pathways through which this influence operates. Beyond mere presence or assistance with homework, it is the quality of parental engagement that molds a child’s academic self-concept and resilience. Parents who foster a supportive, confidence-enhancing environment enable children to internalize a sense of competence and tenacity, which becomes particularly critical when navigating challenging subjects like mathematics.
Simultaneously, teacher support emerges as an equally vital external resource that facilitates student achievement. The researchers highlight that teacher behaviors characterized by encouragement, personalized attention, and constructive feedback directly bolster a student’s academic self-efficacy while promoting buoyancy. Teachers who create psychologically safe classrooms, where students feel valued and capable even in the face of failure, lay the groundwork for enhanced learning engagement and persistence.
The novelty of this research lies in framing self-efficacy and academic buoyancy not just as independent psychological traits but as mediating mechanisms through which social supports transform into tangible academic gains. By empirically testing this mediation model, the study convincingly demonstrates that interventions targeting the enhancement of these internal psychological assets could amplify the benefits of parental and teacher support on mathematics performance.
Moreover, the research methodology utilized robust statistical modeling techniques, likely structural equation modeling, to analyze data collected from diverse student populations. This approach allowed for the disentanglement of complex, multivariate relationships and provided clarity on direct and indirect effects. Such methodological rigor ensures the validity and applicability of the findings across different educational contexts.
Importantly, the findings advocate for a holistic educational ecosystem where parental and teacher roles are synchronized to nurture students’ psychological capital. The authors suggest that purely academic training is insufficient; instead, programs designed to foster resilience and confidence are integral to fostering success in subjects demanding high cognitive effort and perseverance.
The implications extend beyond immediate academic outcomes to long-term educational trajectories and career aspirations in STEM fields. Mathematics proficiency is often a gatekeeper skill influencing access to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines. Hence, reinforcing students’ belief in their capabilities and their ability to bounce back from failure becomes crucial in addressing broader issues like educational equity and workforce development.
In addition to advancing theoretical frameworks, İlter, Aksoy, and Ceylan’s study offers practical policy recommendations. Schools could implement parent engagement workshops designed not just to increase involvement quantitatively but to enhance the quality and nature of parental support. Teacher professional development programs might integrate psychological skill-building strategies to equip educators with tools for enhancing student self-efficacy and buoyancy.
The study also challenges educators to rethink traditional metrics of academic support. While tutoring and homework assistance are valuable, fostering an environment where students build self-confidence and resilience could yield even more substantial improvements in performance. Creating classroom cultures that normalize struggle and frame setbacks as learning opportunities aligns well with the psychological constructs highlighted by the researchers.
Furthermore, this research contributes to the growing body of evidence that mental and emotional factors are inseparable from cognitive performance. In an era where student anxiety and burnout rates are rising, this integrated perspective underscores the need for systems that attend not only to intellectual growth but to emotional and psychological well-being.
Critically, the study situates academic self-efficacy and buoyancy as malleable traits amenable to intervention. This perspective shifts the narrative around student ability from fixed or inherent talent toward a growth-oriented outlook in which supportive adults play an indispensable role. This reframing has the potential to dispel deterministic views of academic success and open new avenues for educational innovation.
While the research focuses on mathematics performance, the general principles surrounding the mediation effect of psychological constructs could likely generalize to other subjects and domains. This offers fertile ground for future scholarship to explore similar dynamics in language arts, sciences, or social studies, expanding the impact of these insights on educational practice.
To conclude, İlter, Aksoy, and Ceylan’s seminal study delivers a robust conceptual and empirical exploration of how parental involvement and teacher support translate into improved mathematics performance via academic self-efficacy and buoyancy. It reiterates the importance of holistic approaches that emphasize psychological empowerment alongside traditional instructional methods. Their findings ignite a crucial conversation about the future of education—a future where nurturing the whole student is the linchpin of academic excellence.
As educational systems worldwide grapple with persistent achievement gaps and the pressures of increasingly demanding curricula, this research offers a beacon of hope by revealing actionable pathways to strengthen both the social and psychological frameworks underpinning learning. The challenge lies in translating these insights into scalable interventions that can reshape classroom realities and foster resilient, self-confident learners equipped to excel in mathematics and beyond.
Subject of Research: The study investigates the relationships between parental involvement, teacher support, and students’ mathematics performance, focusing on the mediating roles of academic self-efficacy and academic buoyancy.
Article Title: The relationships between parental involvement, teacher support, and mathematics performance: mediating roles of academic self-efficacy and academic buoyancy.
Article References: İlter, İ., Aksoy, N.C. & Ceylan, M. The relationships between parental involvement, teacher support, and mathematics performance: mediating roles of academic self-efficacy and academic buoyancy. BMC Psychol 13, 1222 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-025-03547-6
Image Credits: AI Generated
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-025-03547-6
