Shaped by Belief: Gendered Perceptions of Parental Beliefs Across Development

• In Event: AERA Poster Session Thursday 7:45am
  In Poster Session: Building Just and Equitable Education Systems

Abstract

What parents value during their children’s upbringing can leave a lasting imprint on how children view themselves, their abilities, and academic achievement. This cross-sectional study examined how male and female college students (N = 390) retrospectively perceived the importance their parents placed on four developmental constructs across elementary, middle, and high school: (1) effort, (2) good behavior, (3) social group affiliation, and (4) academic performance. Male students were more likely to pursue STEM majors, while female students pursued non-STEM fields and had a higher academic performance. Perceptions of parental emphasis were stable over time. Female students consistently reported greater emphasis on effort, good behavior, and academics. Parental emphasis patterns shifted across school levels and varied by gender in specific domains.

Authors

• Besjane Krasniqi, University of Maryland - Baltimore County

• Aniyah Davis-Hilton, University of Maryland - Baltimore County

• Diane Placide, University of Maryland - Baltimore County

• Susan Sonnenschein, University of Maryland - Baltimore County