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

Abstract

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.

Gender stereotypes about interests start early and cause gender disparities in computer science and engineering

“…Finally, an experimental study investigating a gender-interest stereotype favoring girls reveals that boys express less interest in an activity when that gender-interest stereotype is present versus absent ( SI Appendix , Study S1 ). Boys’ academic motivation may be vulnerable to the same processes to the extent that gender-interest stereotypes favoring girls exist in other fields, such as language arts ( 29 ).…”

Quality and quantity : gender representation in teacher discourse and kindergarten math curriculum

“…They claim this separation creates a more accurate picture of how children understand gender in relation to math and language. In contrast to studies that use the IAT, (Vuletich et al, 2020) found that:…”

“…wrote in their review of literature on gender and math that the majority of mathematics research is conducted with participants between first and twelfth grade and measurable differences in attitudes and beliefs between girls and boys emerge by first grade. Studies of explicit and implicit gender bias have been inconsistent in their findings depending on tool of measurement and setting of study Vuletich et al, 2020), but Cvencek et al (2011) showed that students as young as first and second grade recognize the stereotype that math is for boys.…”

“…Teachers and parents may wonder why teacher and curriculum discourse matter when working with such young students. Many researchers have wondered at what age children are able to identify and understand gender stereotypes, particularly in relation to math and language education (Vuletich et al, 2020). Researchers have conducted studies of implicit and explicit gender stereotyping with children as young as first grade (e.g., Cvencek et al, 2011;Vuletich et al, 2020).…”

“…Critiques of using tools measuring explicit gender bias with young children have led to studies using tools measuring implicit gender bias either in combination with explicit measures or alone. Researchers have used different tools to measure implicit bias in children: child Implicit Association Test (IAT) (Cvencek et al, 2011) and Affect Misattribution Procedure (AMP) (Vuletich et al, 2020). According to , implicit bias testing with children has yielded inconsistent results based on the setting of the study and the tool used to measure implicit bias.…”