Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Developmental Review journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/dr SES disparities in early math abilities: The contributions of parents’ math cognitions, practices to support math, and math talk Leanne Elliott a, ⁎ , Heather J. Bachman b a Department of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, 210 South Bouquet St., Pittsburgh, PA 15260, United States b Department of Psychology in Education, School of Education, University of Pittsburgh, 230 South Bouquet St., Pittsburgh, PA 15260, United States ARTICLE INFO Keywords: Math SES Early childhood Parenting ABSTRACT SES disparities in early math achievement are large and persistent across development and yet relatively understudied. Given the early emergence of these gaps, it is unlikely that school factors can explain why low-SES children tend to start school behind their peers in math skills. Rather, we argue that characteristics of parents, including their beliefs about math, their practices to support math, and their language about math concepts, mediate the observed associations be- tween SES and math learning in early childhood. We first review the existing theoretical fra- meworks that support this conceptualization, including academic socialization, the home nu- meracy model, and concerted cultivation, with particular emphasis on the intersections and limitations of these past theories for understanding the early emergence of math disparities. We then propose a hybrid conceptualization of these frameworks and review research describing each proposed pathway. Specifically, we describe studies addressing how parents’ beliefs, practices, and language might explain SES disparities in children’s math achievement. Finally, we review the implications for our conceptual framework, major limitations of this literature, and remaining questions for future studies. Introduction Abundant evidence indicates that children in homes of lower socioeconomic status (SES) typically start school behind their peers on a host of domains (Bradley & Corwyn, 2002; McLoyd, 1998). Of particular interest are SES disparities in early academic achievement, as differences in early math and reading skills have profound implications for later educational and vocational out- comes. Although the bulk of research addressing SES disparities in early academic skills has focused on language and literacy skills rather than math abilities (e.g., Foster, Lambert, Abbott-Shim, McCarty, & Franze, 2005; Hart & Risley, 1995; Rodriguez & Tamis- LeMonda, 2011), understanding why some children start school less prepared to learn math than their peers is vital. Math is often hierarchically organized, such that early skills lay the foundation for the more advanced skills that follow (Baroody, Eiland, Purpura, & Reid, 2012); thus, disadvantages at school entry are unlikely to dissipate over time (Crosnoe & Schneider, 2010; Duncan & Magnuson, 2011). Rather, math skills at the start of kindergarten are particularly strong predictors of later school success and outweigh other theoretically important factors such as reading and attention (Duncan et al., 2007). Furthermore, these early SES disparities in math may have implications for later social mobility (Crosnoe & Schneider, 2010; Schoenfeld, 2002) if low-SES children do not attain the math skills needed for future labor market opportunities that require math competency (Goldin & Katz, 2009). Given that disparities in math emerge prior to the start of school, parental characteristics might explain how SES differences in https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dr.2018.08.001 Received 21 December 2016; Received in revised form 3 March 2018 ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail address: lek79@pitt.edu (L. Elliott). Developmental Review 49 (2018) 1–15 Available online 14 August 2018 0273-2297/ © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. T