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. 2021 Jan;50(1):177-188.
doi: 10.1007/s10964-020-01345-4. Epub 2020 Nov 10.

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

Anke Heyder  1 , Anne F Weidinger  2 , Ricarda Steinmayr  2
Affiliations

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

Anke Heyder et al. J Youth Adolesc. 2021 Jan.

Abstract

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.

Keywords: Ability self-concept; Gender differences; Intrinsic motivation; Math; Mindsets.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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