Gender and mathematics: attitudes and stereotype threat susceptibility in Italian children

Dev Psychol. 2007 May;43(3):747-59. doi: 10.1037/0012-1649.43.3.747.

Abstract

Two experiments investigated the development of attitudes toward mathematics and stereotype threat susceptibility in Italian children. Experiment 1 involved 476 elementary school boys and girls and produced evidence of gender differences in self-confidence in one's own mathematical ability and in gender stereotyping of mathematics during elementary school. It also provided initial evidence for a decrement in 10-year-old girls' mathematics performance when stereotype threat was made salient by reminding participants that extraordinary achievement in mathematics is typically a male phenomenon. Experiment 2 (N=271) replicated these findings and expanded them to middle school-age participants. Its results suggest that during middle school, the patterns observed in elementary school consolidate, and the stereotypes begin to produce detrimental effects in girls.

Publication types

  • Randomized Controlled Trial

MeSH terms

  • Aptitude
  • Attitude*
  • Child
  • Culture
  • Educational Status
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Italy
  • Male
  • Mathematics*
  • Sex Characteristics*
  • Stereotyping*