Whether parental help has positive or negative effects on students’ academic outcomes depends on the motivation and involvement of their parents. Results of a study conducted by the Hector Research Institute of Education Sciences and Psychology suggest that students whose parents are interested in math and perceive their own math competencies to be high perform better than students with parents who show a low interest in math and regard their competencies in the domain as equally low – regardless of the intensity of the help students receive at home. The results have now been published in Child Development.