Children’s implicit and explicit gender stereotypes about mathematics and reading ability

The Impact of Math-Gender Stereotypes on Students' Academic Performance: Evidence from China

This study investigates the impact of math-gender stereotypes on students' academic performance using data from the China Education Panel Survey (CEPS), which surveyed nationally representative middle schools in China. Our sample comprises over 2000 seventh-grade students, with an average age of 13 and a standard deviation of 0.711. Among these students, 52.4% are male, and 47.6% are female. Employing a fixed effects model and instrumental variable, our findings are as follows. First, over half of the male students believe that boys are better at math than girls, and they also perceive that their parents and society hold the same belief. In contrast, fewer than half of the female students hold this belief or perception. Intriguingly, among these students, female math performance surpasses that of males. Second, stereotypes hinder female math performance, especially among low-achieving ones, while benefiting high-achieving male students. Finally, perceptions of societal stereotypes have the greatest effect on math performance, followed by self-stereotypes and perceptions of parental stereotypes. Understanding the implications of these findings highlights the importance of addressing math-gender stereotypes to promote equal participation and success for both genders in STEM fields.

Research on the Influence Path of Metacognitive Reading Strategies on Scientific Literacy

This study aims to examine influence paths of three metacognitive reading strategies (metacognitive understanding and remembering strategies, metacognitive summarizing strategies and metacognitive assessing credibility strategies) on scientific literacy, mediated by reading self-efficacy and reading literacy. The dataset included 11,420 15-year-old students from four Chinese provinces (Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang) who took part in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) in 2018. The results of structural equation model showed that metacognitive assessing credibility strategies had the greatest effect on the scientific literacy, and reading literacy played an important mediating role in the relationship between the three metacognitive reading strategies and scientific literacy. The results of the multi-group structural equation model indicated that there were significant differences in influence pathways between boys and girls, and that the reading self-efficacy of boys and girls played a different role in the impact of metacognitive summarizing strategies on scientific literacy. This study reveals the mechanism and gender difference of metacognitive reading strategies on the scientific literacy.

Formation of Stereotypes of Human Behaviour under the Influence of Childhood Fears

The relevance of the study is due to the presence of a relationship that occurs between the emotional and intellectual development of the individual. Negative changes in the process of emotional development of a person lead to the fact that they are unable to use other structures, in particular, intelligence, and therefore develop harmoniously. As a basic emotion, fear is an integral part of the emotional field, as is the emotion of joy, sadness, and anger. Fear performs a protective function, but it also destroys the individual if it is irrational. The emotion of fear, arising in childhood, can be fixed and transformed into more acute manifestations, that is, into phobic disorders. Personality is formed under the influence of society, so a very important role in its development is played by models of upbringing in the family and those attitudes and prescriptions that a person learns from childhood. In adulthood, these patterns are manifested in the form of stereotypical behaviour, which substantially affects a person’s quality of life. Therefore, it is important to clarify how childhood fears can affect the individual in adulthood. The purpose of this study is to establish a link between childhood fears and stereotypical behaviour. A number of methods and techniques were used to achieve this goal, including theoretical (analysis, synthesis, generalisation) and practical (D. McLain’s general tolerance for uncertainty scale; tolerance-intolerance of ambiguity questionnaire by T.V. Kornilova; questionnaire of childhood fears). The results of the study show that in the case when a person cannot safely live through fears as a child, they have an impact on the psychological well-being of the individual, which encourages the formation of psychological problems. It is proved that as a result of gender stereotypes in education, male and female fears formed in childhood differ markedly. Therewith, it is noted that certain stereotypes have a positive meaning in a person’s life if they do not suppress their psychological development. The research materials will be useful for practical psychologists in the education and social fields, and teachers

Gender stereotypes: implicit threat to performance or boost for motivational aspects in primary school?

Based on stereotype threat and stereotype lift theory, this study explores implicit stereotype threat effects of gender stereotypes on the performance of primary school children in mathematics. Moreover, effects of implicit gender stereotypical cues (gender-specific task material) on motivational aspects were explored, which have revealed mixed results in stereotype threat research in the past. N = 151 German primary school children (47.7% female; mean age: M = 9.81, SD = 0.60) calculated either stereotypical or neutral mathematical text problems before motivational aspects were assessed. Contradicting our expectations, results neither revealed a stereotype threat effect on girls’ performance nor a lift effect on the boys. Instead, girls calculating stereotypical tasks outperformed girls in the control group, whereas boys’ performance did not significantly differ compared to the control group. Regarding motivational aspects, only traditional gender differences emerged as girls reported significantly more pressure and tension calculating the mathematical tasks. The discussion focuses on the way in which stereotypes can affect children’s cognitive performance and in turn, their mathematical performance.

Examining High School Students' Gendered Beliefs about Math: Predictors and Implications for Choice of STEM College Majors

Utilizing the High School Longitudinal Study, a nationally representative sample of U.S. high school students, this study investigates the factors that predict different beliefs about gendered math ability and the potential consequences for students' choices to enter gender-segregated science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) majors in college. Among other results, analyses reveal that while about 25 percent of students report a traditionally stereotypical belief in male superiority, about 20 percent report a counter-stereotypical belief in female superiority; among female students, such beliefs are more common among black students. Further, models reveal a robust association between holding counter-stereotypical beliefs and the likelihood that women choose biological science majors, which are female dominated, compared to non-STEM fields. Among men, holding counter-stereotypical beliefs is associated with a lower likelihood of majoring in physical science, computer science, math, and engineering fields, which are strongly male dominated, versus non-STEM fields. Implications for gender inequality in STEM fields are discussed.

The academic success of boys and girls as an identity issue in gender relations: when the most threatened is not the one expected

The present research aims to determine whether girls' higher academic achievement, which should grant them a higher academic status than boys, could prevent them from experiencing social-identity threat on this dimension. Because they fear situations questioning their superiority, we argue that an unfavorable intergroup comparison would be more threatening for the high-status, rather than low-status, group on the dimension of academic achievement. Two studies were conducted, respectively, in high school, where girls should represent the high-status group (Study 1), and middle school, where students might perceive their own group as the high-status group (Study 2). Although both middle-school and high-school students perceived girls as the high-status group, they appraised the outgroup superiority differently. Indeed, it had more impact on girls' perceived threat and boys' perceived challenge in high school (Study 1), but not in middle school (Study 2). The results, however, did not show significant impact of context on performance.

Math and language gender stereotypes: Age and gender differences in implicit biases and explicit beliefs

In a cross-sectional study of youth ages 8-15, we examined implicit and explicit gender stereotypes regarding math and language abilities. We investigated how implicit and explicit stereotypes differ across age and gender groups and whether they are consistent with cultural stereotypes. Participants (N = 270) completed the Affect Misattribution Procedure (AMP) and a survey of explicit beliefs. Across all ages, boys showed neither math nor language implicit gender biases, whereas girls implicitly favored girls in both domains. These findings are counter to cultural stereotypes, which favor boys in math. On the explicit measure, both boys' and girls' primary tendency was to favor girls in math and language ability, with the exception of elementary school boys, who rated genders equally. We conclude that objective gender differences in academic success guide differences in children's explicit reports and implicit biases.

Beware of Stereotypes: Are Classmates' Stereotypes Associated With Students' Reading Outcomes?

This study examined the associations between classmates' reading-related gender stereotypes and students' reading self-efficacy, self-concept, motivation, and achievement. Our sample consisted of 1,508 fifth-grade students (49% girls; age: 10.89 years); data were collected at two time points. Multilevel analyses yielded two main results: First, there was a relation between students' individual reading-related gender stereotypes and their reading self-concept, self-efficacy, and motivation with boys experiencing negative and girls experiencing positive effects. Second, a contextual effect was found: after controlling for students' individual reading-related gender stereotypes, classmates' gender stereotypes were negatively related to all of the boys' reading outcomes. The results provide evidence for the assumption that classmates are important communicators of gender stereotypes and that they reinforce conforming behaviors.