Many researchers have tried to understand why some learners engage in and others disengage from mathematics by exploring learners’ mathematical identities. Significant others (i.e., teachers, peers and family members) offer learners’ different opportunities for mathematical identity support, but no study has explored their collective role in supporting or constraining learners’ identities. In this paper, we explore how relationships between high school learners and different groups of significant others shaped learners’ narrated mathematical identities. Fifty Grade 10 learners responded to a mathematical identity questionnaire. After analysing the results of the questionnaire, six learners were purposively selected for a semi-structured interview, and the interview data were analysed thematically. Identities are described as robust-leaning, mixed or fragile-leaning, depending on learners’ narrated confidence, persistence, beliefs and sense of belonging to or exclusion from mathematics communities. Relationships with teachers, peers and family members are described as robust-enhancing or fragile-enhancing, depending on the kind of identity encouraged by the relationships. The findings show that many learners narrated fragile-leaning identities, and all the learners showed some robustness and fragility in their identities. The more groups of significant others a learner developed robust-enhancing relationships with, the more likely the learner narrated a robust-leaning identity. We argue that understanding learners’ identities requires understanding their relationships with the three different groups of significant others as a collective.

许多研究人员试图通过探索学习者的数学身份来理解为什么一些学习者投入数学而另一些则脱离数学。重要的其他人（即教师、同伴和家庭成员）为学习者提供了不同的数学身份支持机会，但没有研究探讨他们在支持或限制学习者身份方面的集体作用。在本文中，我们探讨了高中学习者与不同群体的重要他人之间的关系如何塑造学习者的叙述数学身份。五十名 10 年级学生填写了一份数学认同调查问卷。在分析问卷结果后，有目的地选择六名学习者进行半结构化访谈，并对访谈数据进行主题分析。身份被描述为稳健倾向、混合倾向或脆弱倾向，具体取决于学习者所叙述的信心、坚持、信念以及对数学社区的归属感或排斥感。与老师、同伴和家庭成员的关系被描述为稳健增强型或脆弱增强型，具体取决于这些关系所鼓励的身份类型。研究结果表明，许多学习者叙述了脆弱倾向的身份，所有学习者的身份都表现出某种稳健性和脆弱性。学习者与越多的重要他人建立强有力的关系，学习者就越有可能叙述出稳健倾向的身份。我们认为，了解学习者的身份需要了解他们与三个不同群体的重要他人作为一个集体的关系。