Motivational beliefs and values are salient determinants of performance, persistence, and behavioral choices (eg Eccles 2005; Eccles 2009; Eccles and Wigfield 2002). According to Eccles and colleagues’ expectancy-value theory (Eccles et al. 1983), competence beliefs are motivational beliefs that refer to individuals’ evaluations of their competence in different areas (Eccles and Wigfield 2002: 118). Positive estimates of one’s own ability and competence are crucial for producing successful learning processes (eg Marsh et al. 2005; Schunk and Pajares 2005). Other crucial predictors of individuals’ achievement and choice behavior are subjective task values, which are defined as ‘the quality of the task that contributes to the increasing or decreasing probability that an individual will select it...’(Eccles 2005: 109). Students’ interest in tasks or activities (intrinsic value/interest) and students’ perceptions of a task as useful and relevant (utility value) are such values that influence domain-specific attitudes and career intentions and are therefore addressed in this chapter (eg Harackiewicz et al. 2008, 2012; Nagy et al. 2006; Watt et al. 2012). There are two other components of subjective task value–students’ personal importance of doing well on the task (attainment value) and the negative aspects of engaging in the task, such as performance anxiety or lost opportunities (cost)(Eccles et al. 1998). Given the high importance of individuals’ competence beliefs and values, it is noticeable that both competence beliefs (eg Jacobs et al. 2002; Wigfield et al. 1997) and values (eg Fredricks and Eccles 2002; Watt 2004) decline significantly from childhood to adolescence. Parents tend to play a decisive role in the motivational development of children and adolescents and shape children’s early achievement-related orientations and perceptions (eg Eccles and Jacobs 1986; Frome and Eccles 1998; Pomerantz et al. 2005; Pekrun 2001; Simpkins et al. 2015; Wild and Lorenz 2009) as well as children’s development of competence beliefs and values across domains (eg Eccles 1993; Eccles et al. 1998; Fredricks and Eccles 2002). As the decline in motivation is particularly steep in mathematics and science (eg Wigfield et al. 2006), empirical work has often focused on the role that parents play in students’ motivational development in these two subjects (eg Eccles and Jacobs 1986; Harackiewicz et al. 2012; Jacobs 1991). Recent motivational theories have drawn on a few specific parent-related factors that are central for children’s motivation. Eccles and colleagues (Eccles et al. 1998: 1054), for example, proposed the importance of parents’ general beliefs and behaviors (eg gender-role stereotypes, efficacy beliefs, parenting styles) and childspecific beliefs (eg ability-related expectations, perceptions of a child’s interest) as predictors of children’s competence beliefs and values. Self-determination theory (Deci and Ryan 1985)