Parents ’ Math Gender Stereotypes and Their Correlates: An Examination of the Similarities and Differences Over the Past 25 Years

AbstractThough one might imagine that traditional gender stereotypes about math have lessened over the years, this assumption remains to be tested. We know little about the extent to which parents ’ gender stereotypes about math abilities and their correlates have changed over time or the extent to which they replicate across research methods and racial/ethnic groups. To address these issues, we used four longitudinal U.S. datasets collected from 1984 to 2009 (n ’s = 537–14,470, 49–53% girls, 32–95% White, 1–59% Black, 0–22% Latinx) that included similar survey items. Across the datasets, parents believed that boys were better at math than girls. This was particularly consistent among White parents, where the small effects favoring boys replicat ed across all four datasets covering three decades. Compared to White parents, Black and Latinx parents were significantly less likely to favor boys. After controlling for parent education, income, and their child’s math grade, parents’ traditional gender stereotypes were significantly and negat ively associated with girls’ math self-concept, a small effect that replicated across all four datasets. These findings have implications for teachers and parents, as parents (particularly White parents) were significantly more likely to hold traditional math gender stereotypes, which relates to c hildren’s math self-concept.
Source: Sex Roles - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research