By Winnie Tam, Centre for University and School Partnership, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Gender-math stereotype refers to the belief that boys are innately better at learning math than girls. Wu and colleagues conducted two studies to investigate whether this stereotype could be transmitted among children’s peers, affecting their math ability and psychological outcomes. Only the results of the first study are considered, as the second study did not account for students’ prior math abilities. The first study analyzed data from the China Education Panel Survey (CEPS), a large-scale national survey. The sample included 8,029 grade 7 and grade 9 students from 208 classrooms where students were randomly assigned to each classroom. The extent of the gender-math stereotype among a student’s peers was measured as the proportion of peers in each classroom who held this belief (range: 13.3% – 91.9%). Accounting for student, classroom, and school effects, the fixed-effect linear model revealed the following results:
• As the proportion of peers holding the stereotype increased by 1 standard deviation (SD), the gap in math scores between girls and boys widened by 0.894 SD, with girls scoring lower.
• Higher proportions of peers with the stereotype were associated with higher math scores for boys (ES = +0.44).
• A higher proportion of peers holding the stereotype increased the likelihood of girls adopting this belief, surpassing boys.
The findings of study 1 underscore the continued existence of potential harm from gender-math stereotyping in children’s peer environments. The authors emphasize the need for greater attention to this matter.
Best Evidence in Brief Index 