Family income and parental investment: Linking with primary math achievement in Bangladesh

Using structural equation modelling (SEM), this study tested whether parental monetary investments (PMI) and parental time investment (PTI) mediate the effects of family income (FI) on primary math achievement (PMA) in a sample of Bangladeshi children ( N = 760, 52% boys, M = 9.1 Years, SD = 3.3 at baseline), studying over 24 months. In doing so, the background variables (fourth‐grade math scores, child's age, and sex) were controlled in the model. The results from SEM suggested that fewer PMIs in children's math stimulating materials and fewer PTIs in children's at‐home math practices partially mediated the association between lower‐FI and poor PMA. Although PTI had a greater amount of variance (15%) in the associations of lower‐FI with lower‐PMA as compared to PMIs (11%), the full model explained 25% of the variance in the lower‐FI and lower‐PMA link with control variables. Future directions for policy and research are discussed.