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A Stereotype Threat Account of Boys' Academic Underachievement
Author(s) -
Hartley Bonny L.,
Sutton Robbie M.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
child development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.103
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1467-8624
pISSN - 0009-3920
DOI - 10.1111/cdev.12079
Subject(s) - psychology , stereotype threat , developmental psychology , affect (linguistics) , stereotype (uml) , test (biology) , reading (process) , academic achievement , social psychology , paleontology , communication , political science , law , biology
Three studies examined the role of stereotype threat in boys' academic underachievement. Study 1 (children aged 4–10, n = 238) showed that girls from age 4 years and boys from age 7 years believed, and thought adults believed, that boys are academically inferior to girls. Study 2 manipulated stereotype threat, informing children aged 7–8 years ( n = 162) that boys tend to do worse than girls at school. This manipulation hindered boys' performance on a reading, writing, and math test, but did not affect girls' performance. Study 3 counteracted stereotype threat, informing children aged 6–9 years ( n = 184) that boys and girls were expected to perform similarly. This improved the performance of boys and did not affect that of girls.