Gender and Mathematics in Upper Secondary School: Sociocultural Stereotypes, Motivation, and Cognitive Activation

Abstract

This doctoral dissertation is aimed at broadening the understanding of motivational and sociocultural influences within the Expectancy Value Theory (EVT) and Dimensional Comparison Theory (DCT) frameworks and investigating the potential positive impact of cognitive activation on students’ motivation, with a specific focus on gender differences. For this purpose, three studies were conducted. The first study focused on the presence of implicit stereotypical beliefs – measured by means of the Implicit Association Test (IAT) and used as proxy for sociocultural influences within EVT - regarding mathematics, brilliancy, and gender in Swiss adolescents. Results showed that Swiss students had implicit beliefs associating males with mathematics and brilliancy, showing quicker reactions to categorize trials using a stereotypical ruleset. Both stereotypes became slightly weaker over time and were found for both boys and girls using both traditional and multilevel analysis that accounts for the nested data structure of the IAT. Study two focused on elaborating the effects of stereotypical beliefs as a) a sociocultural influence on students’ self-concept and interest in the EVT framework, and b) as a possible moderator of the dimensional comparison process framed in DCT. As expected, girls with stronger stereotypical beliefs reported significantly lower self-concept and interest in mathematics. For boys, however, the direction of effects was the same, despite both stereotypes considered positive for boys. Other predictions from EVT, such as positive associations of mathematics self-concept and interest to STEM aspirations were found. Results also indicated the typical DCT-pattern of positive associations between achievement and self-concept or interest in matched domains (e.g., mathematics achievement to mathematics self-concept) while showing negative contrast effects for contrasting domains (e.g., mathematics achievement to language self-concept). However, contrary to expectations, stereotypes did not moderate this dimensional comparison process, neither for boys nor girls. The third study aimed to investigate the potential positive impact of cognitively activating (CogAct) curriculum on students’ motivation in the interaction with intelligence and gender, by evaluating the impact of CogAct curriculum for different achievement profiles identified in both boys and girls. The Latent Profile Analysis (LPA) only identified two unique profiles, average and low achievers, the latter of which was characterized by low self-concept and interest in mathematics, low performance in mathematics and lower cognitive potential. These two profiles were invariant for gender. In both profiles, there was no indication of positive effects of CogAct curriculum over the course of a semester. In fact, cognitive activation did not show a significant positive effect on motivation nor achievement, although there was some indication that both low achievers’ as well as highly cognitively capable girls’ and boys’ achievement benefitted from the CogAct curriculum. These three studies show that sociocultural influences, in the form of stereotypical beliefs regarding mathematics, brilliancy, and gender, can negatively affect students’ motivation for STEM. However, these influences are not exclusively hindering girls, and also do not moderate the dimensional comparison process, adding some more understanding to the merging of EVT and DCT. Lastly, cognitive activation could not provide beneficial effects on students’ motivation for neither boys nor girls, and regardless of their level of achievement or cognitive potential.