PUSHY parents who set the bar too high for their children could be doing more damage than good according to research from the University of Reading.

The study found those who set unrealistic goals for their young ones can have a negative impact on their academic performance.

After polling parents in Bavaria, Germany and comparing their answers with their children's achievements in maths the team found evidence to suggest over-ambition could act as a hindrance.

Dr Kou Murayama, from the university's School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, said: "Our aim was to see if parental aspiration that exceeds realistic expectation could have negative effects on children's academic performance. The results were striking.

"Children of parents with higher hopes achieved statistically better test scores compared to those who aspired less. This is consistent with previous findings that high parental aspiration is good for children.

"However, when we examined the parents whose aspiration exceeded realistic expectation children's academic performance was damaged.

"This could be due to children experiencing anxiety, low confidence and frustration brought on by pressure from over-bearing parents – but more research is needed. For instance it could be that parents who aim too high also exert too much control on their children with detrimental effects."

The study Don’t Aim too High for Your Kids: Parental Over-Aspiration Undermines Students’ Learning in Mathematics was published Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

It was thousands of secondary school aged students have their marks collated against their parents' answers to expected levels of progress.

Dr Murayama and his team concluded that parental aspiration was only helpful to children if it was realistic and that over-ambition worked in the opposite way.

He added: "Until now the message for parents has seemed straightforward - aim high for your children, and they will achieve more. In fact, getting parents to have higher hopes for their children has often been a goal of programs designed to improve academic performance in schools.

"Our study does show that parental aspiration can help children achieve better results at school, but only if it is realistic. Simply raising aspiration to improve educational success could be a dangerous message for parents. The focus should not be on blindly increasing parental aspiration but on giving parents the information they need to develop realistic expectations."