Only a Burden for Females in Math? Gender and Domain Differences in the Relation Between Adolescents’ Fixed Mindsets and Motivation

• Published in: Journal of youth and adolescence Vol. 50; no. 1; pp. 177 - 188
• Main Authors: Heyder, Anke, Weidinger, Anne F., Steinmayr, Ricarda
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.01.2021; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adolescents; Behavioral Science and Psychology; Child and School Psychology; Clinical Psychology; Empirical Research; Female; Females; Gender differences; Germany; Health Psychology; History of Psychology; Humanities; Humans; Language; Language arts; Law and Psychology; Male; Males; Mathematics; Motivation; Occupational choice; Psychology; Secondary school students; Self Concept; Self esteem; Stereotypes; Students; Teenagers; Germany; Intrinsic motivation; Gender differences; Ability self-concept; Math; Mindsets
• ISSN: 0047-2891; 1573-6601
• DOI: 10.1007/s10964-020-01345-4

Gendered occupational and educational choices have often been traced back to gender differences in students’ domain-specific ability self-concept and intrinsic motivation. This study explored the role of believing in an “innate” math or language arts ability (i.e., having a fixed mindset) for gender differences in students’ ability self-concept and intrinsic motivation in 423 female (49%) and 447 male (51%) tenth graders from Germany (age M  = 16.09 years, SD = 0.68, range: 14–18 years). In line with math-male stereotypes, believing in “innate” math ability was associated with lower ability self-concept and intrinsic motivation in female but not male students. In language arts, students’ mindsets were unrelated to their motivation. The results suggest that a fixed mindset presents an additional burden for female students in math, but not for male or female students in language arts.