When Grades Are High but Self-Efficacy Is Low: Unpacking the Confidence Gap Between Girls and Boys in Mathematics

Abstract

Girls have much lower mathematics self-efficacy than boys, a likely contributor to the under-representation of women in STEM. To help explain this gender confidence gap, we examined predictors of mathematics self-efficacy in a sample of 1,007 9th graders aged 13–18 years (54.2% girls). Participants completed a standardized math test, after which they rated three indices of mastery: an affective component (state self-esteem), a meta-cognitive component (self-enhancement), and their prior math grade. Despite having similar grades, girls reported lower mathematics self-efficacy and state self-esteem, and were less likely than boys to self-enhance in terms of performance. Multilevel multiple-group regression analyses showed that the affective mastery component explained girls’ self-efficacy while cognitive self-enhancement explained boys’. Yet, a chi-square test showed that both constructs were equally relevant in the prediction of girls’ and boys’ self-efficacy. Measures of interpersonal sources of self-efficacy were not predictive of self-efficacy after taking the other dimensions into account. Results suggest that boys are advantaged in their development of mathematics self-efficacy beliefs, partly due to more positive feelings and more cognitive self-enhancement following test situations.

Relations between achievement task values and academic achievement and depressive symptoms in Chinese elementary school students: Variable-centered and person-centered perspectives.

“…Though expectancy has been identified as a strong predictor of academic success in previous studies (see Wigfield & Eccles, 2020), it depends more on individuals’ confidence in their intellectual abilities and their experiences with the activities (Eccles, 2005). Due to cognitive immaturity, children are often overly optimistic about their competencies in different domains (e.g., Wigfield et al, 2016); however, their overconfidence does not guarantee high persistence on academic tasks nor high academic achievement (e.g., Zander et al, 2020). Moreover, even if expectations are low, children with high achievement task values for academic performance more readily persist in learning and achieve success when faced with challenging tasks (Chow et al, 2012; Guo et al, 2015; Wigfield & Gladstone, 2019).…”

Predictors of high school students’ mathematics self-efficacy in Addis Ababa: The importance of educational expectations

“…Participants in the study are 120 students selected from two schools in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Based on the findings from earlier studies, gender (Rodríguez et al, 2020;Zander et al, 2020), school type (Özgen and Bindak, 2011), and grade level (Wubalem, 2006;Özgen and Bindak, 2011) are important variables in students' mathematics self-efficacy. As such, an equal number of students from both genders, from both government and private high schools, and from both grades 9 and 10 (60 from each group) were included in the study.…”

“…In practice, the effects of demographic variables on students' mathematics self-efficacy are still inconclusive. For instance, gender was found to be associated with students' mathematics self-efficacy, favoring males (Lloyd et al, 2005;Wu, 2016;Recber et al, 2018;Rodríguez et al, 2020;Zander et al, 2020). In a meta-analytic review of studies, males were found to have a higher MSE than their female counterparts (Huang, 2013).…”

Primary Preservice Teachers’ Mathematics Teaching Efficacy Beliefs: the Role Played by Mathematics Attainment, Educational Level, Preparedness to Teach, and Gender

“…Leyva, 2017). Mathematics self-efficacy beliefs, or beliefs in one's ability to do mathematics, have consistently been found to be lower in females than males, a worrying finding given that mathematics self-efficacy has also been shown to predict educational achievement and career outcomes (Zander et al, 2020). Zeldin et al (2008) show that different sources are predominant in the development of the self-efficacy beliefs of men and women in STEM careers.…”