UC Irvine

Latine parents from lower socioeconomic backgrounds in the United States (US) often face challenges when supporting their adolescents’ education in subjects like math. Guided by strengths-based, culturally grounded frameworks, this study explored the challenges Latine parents faced when supporting adolescents’ math learning and how they leveraged their community cultural wealth via specific strategies to address challenges. We conducted semi-structured qualitative interviews with 20 Latine-descent parents (19 mothers, one father; 12 with less than a high school education, five with a high school education, three with some college education) of adolescents (eight girls, 12 boys; eight 6th graders, seven 7th graders, and five 8th graders) attending four middle schools in southern California. Systematic coding and theming of the interview data were used to help identify challenges parents experienced at the individual level (e.g., gaps in content/curriculum knowledge, problems with technology, linguistic differences) and at the contextual level (e.g., conflicting obligations, nonideal circumstances). Parents used their community cultural wealth by employing five strategies: (a) working closely with adolescents, (b) seeking help from their social networks, (c) providing learning spaces and organized activities to help, (d) using digital tools, and (e) hoping to build their knowledge and skills in the future. Finally, analyses revealed emergent linkages between specific math support challenges and adaptive strategies. The findings underscore the utility of leveraging parents’ cultural funds of knowledge and community cultural wealth to understand not just the math-specific needs of Latine families but also how families already actively address challenges to math support.