Gender Differences in Children’s Math Self-Concept in the First Years of Elementary School

Abstract

In the course of elementary school children start to develop an academic self-concept reflecting their motivation, thoughts, and feelings about a specific domain. For the domain of mathematics, gender differences can emerge which are characterized by a less pronounced math self-concept for girls. However, studies are rather sparse regarding the early years of elementary school education, hence, the point in time when such gender differences emerge yet remains a matter of debate. In our study, we found that the math self-concept of elementary school children (n = 81) declined from first to second grade. While no differences in math achievement were observed between girls and boys, it became apparent that girls' math self-concept was already less pronounced than the math self-concept of boys in the first years of elementary school. Our findings emphasize the importance of considering such gender differences even at the beginning of school education.

Academic self-concept and achievement in Polish primary schools: cross-lagged modelling and gender-specific effects

“…Attrition of academic self-concept confirmed the results of studies indicating that children in the first grades of primary school are characteristically overoptimistic in terms of academic self-concept (Wigfield et al 1997). This is related to their limited ability to discriminate between qualities they actually possess and those considered desirable (Lindberg et al 2013), in addition to ego-centrism (Marsh 1985), which hinders capacity to exploit social comparison mechanisms for accurate self-evaluation (Anderman and Maehr 1994;Harter 1999).…”

Math achievement, stereotypes, and math self-concepts among elementary-school students in Singapore

“…The emerging evidence can be summarized as follows: First, gender differences in math self-concepts can be independent from actual math achievement, which is often found to be comparable between male and female students in elementary school (Herbert & Stipek, 2005). Second, in some Western countries, positive math self-concepts seem to be more relevant to boys' math achievement than to those of girls (Lindberg, Linkersd€ orfer, Ehm, Hasselhorn, & Lonnemann, 2013). Third, if explicit perceptions of an academic discipline are at odds with one's identity ("not-me"), this discourages students from choosing and identifying with the field (Cheryan et al, 2015;Frome, Alfeld, Eccles, & Barber, 2006).…”

Unterschiede in der Wahrnehmung positiven und negativen Feedbacks von Mädchen und Jungen im Leseunterricht der Grundschule

“…z. B. Ehm et al 2011;Gentrup et al 2018;Lindberg et al 2013;Niklas und Schneider 2012;Wendt et al 2016).…”

“…Die zuvor berichteten geschlechtsspezifischen Unterschiede von Grundschulkindern weisen dabei unter Bezugnahme auf Cohen (1988Cohen ( , 1992 kleine bis mittlere Effektstärken hinsichtlich der Leistungen im Lesen (Ehm et al 2011: η 2 = 0,01; Hellmich 2008: d = 0,23; Niklas und Schneider 2012: d = 0,24-0,28) sowie im Fach Mathematik (Ehm et al 2011: η 2 = 0,01; Niklas und Schneider 2012: d = 0,21-0,59) auf. Ebenso zeigen sich Effektstärken auf kleinem bis mittlerem Niveau für die lesebezogenen (Ehm et al 2011: η 2 = 0,02; Niklas und Schneider 2012: d = 0,27) und mathematischen Selbstkonzepte (Ehm et al 2011: η 2 = 0,03; Lindberg et al 2013: η 2 = 0,08; Niklas und Schneider 2012: d = 0,27) sowie die lesebezogene Lernfreude (Hellmich 2008: d = 0,26 (vgl. Hannover 2008).…”