Gender Stereotypes about Interest Cause Gender Disparities in Children’s Motivation in STEM

• In Event: Gender Stereotypes and STEM Motivation: Experimental, Longitudinal, Meta-analytic, and Intervention Research Across the Lifespan

Abstract

Background
Societal stereotypes about gender contribute to girls’ underrepresentation in STEM fields (Cheryan et al., 2017; Master & Meltzoff, 2020). A student’s interest in a discipline is a better predictor of a STEM major than most other factors, including STEM GPA, earning potential, or interpersonal influences (Maltese & Tai, 2011). Because gender stereotypes about interest (“girls are not interested in computer science”) are more strongly related to girls’ interest in computer science than are ability stereotypes (Master et al., 2019), we experimentally manipulated and tested whether the presence of an interest stereotype could cause gender disparities in motivation toward computer science activities. We chose computer science because it has one of the lowest representations of women among STEM fields (NSF, 2017), and because gender gaps in technology interest emerge early (Master et al., 2017). We predicted that the presence of a negative interest stereotype about girls would cause a decrease in girls’ motivation towards the activity, and would not impact boys’ motivation.

Method
Participants were 122 8- and 9-year-old children (49% girls; 75% White, 22% multiracial, 3% other). They participated online using video conferencing software. All participants learned about two novel computer science activities. The descriptions were identical and minimal, except that an interest stereotype that girls were less interested in the activity than boys was either present (stereotyped) or absent (nonstereotyped). The survey measured participants’ sense of belonging (“How much would you feel like you belong with other kids doing this activity?”, 3 items, stereotyped α=.76, nonstereotyped α=.65), interest (“How interested are you in doing this activity?”, 2 items, stereotyped α=.86, nonstereotyped α=.89), and motivation (“Which activity would you like to do at home?”, 1 item).

Results
A 2 x 2 (Participant Gender x Activity [stereotyped and nonstereotyped]) mixed-model ANOVA revealed a significant interaction, F(1,120)=7.22, p=0.008. Simple effects showed that girls were significantly less interested in the stereotyped activity than the nonstereotyped activity (p<.001, d=.69), and were significantly less interested in the stereotyped activity than boys (p=.002, d=0.57). There was no gender difference for interest in the nonstereotyped activity (p=.42). Moreover, the stereotype changed girls’ behavior: girls were significantly less likely to request the stereotyped activity (35%) than the nonstereotyped activity (65%, p=.03), while boys were at chance (50% chose stereotyped; gender difference: χ2 (1, N=122)=2.81, p=.09). The effect of gender on interest in the stereotyped activity was mediated by girls’ lower sense of belonging than boys for the stereotyped activity (indirect effect -0.61, SE=0.19, 95% CI[-1.04, -0.31]).

Discussion
Interest stereotypes cause a gender disparity in children’s interest in a novel computer science activity, mediated by girls’ decreased sense of belonging. When girls hear a stereotype that girls are not interested in a domain, their own interest and motivation decrease. Given that interest stereotypes about gender and STEM are pervasive in today’s society, this may impact not only girls’ activity choices, but future career decisions. Interventions that specifically combat interest stereotypes may increase girls’ sense of belonging and, in turn, may help increase girls’ participation in STEM fields.

Authors

• Mackenzie Tennison, University of Washington
  Presenting Author

• Sapna Cheryan, University of Washington
  Non-Presenting Author

• Andrew N Meltzoff, University of Washington
  Non-Presenting Author

• Allison Master, University of Houston
  Non-Presenting Author