Chinese-American girls perform as well as Chinese-American boys at higher levels of mathematics. Caucasian-American girls perform significantly less well than Caucasian-American boys. This study, designed to examine factors involved in this differential, contrasts 25 first generation Chinese-American mother-father pairs and 27 Caucasian-American mother-father pairs guiding their fifth- and sixth-grade daughters in solving math-related computer problems. Caucasian-American parents used more verbal mediation, displayed more emotion, relied more on questioning, used more encouraging and discouraging comments, and focused on the computer monitor less than did Chinese-American parents. Daughters' mathematics achievement test scores and mathematics grades were negatively related to mothers' verbal partipation for Chinese-Americans and to fathers' verbal participation for Caucasian-Americans. (Contains 20 references.) (Author)