Promoting children’s math motivation by changing parents’ gender stereotypes and expectations for math

• Autores: Jihyun Lee, Jeesoo Lee, Juyeon Song, Sunghwa Kim, Mimi Bong
• Localización: Journal of educational psychology, ISSN-e 1939-2176, ISSN 0022-0663, Vol. 114, Nº. 7, 2022, págs. 1567-1588
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • The effects of two interventions, one for parents (Intervention-P) and the other for students (Intervention-S), on children’s math motivation were examined. Intervention-P involved the sending of six letters to parents over 3 weeks to promote their growth mindset, gender-fair beliefs, and expectations for their child’s success in math. Intervention-S comprised five classroom sessions delivered over 2 months to strengthen students’ growth mindset and gender-fair beliefs in math. Using a cluster-randomized design, 467 third- and fourth-graders and their parents were randomly assigned in class units to the intervention (11 classes) and control conditions (9 classes). Repeated-measures multivariate analyses of covariance were conducted and, when significant, followed by repeated-measures univariate analyses of covariance to test the direct effects of each intervention. Neither intervention produced significant direct effects on student outcomes. However, the significant Group × Time interactions after Intervention-P demonstrated that the parents in the intervention group expressed weaker gender stereotypes and higher expectations for their child, whereas those in the control group reported stronger gender stereotypes. Structural equation modeling showed that Intervention-P had indirect effects on students’ fixed mindset, gender stereotypes, and self-efficacy in math via changes in their parents’ gender stereotypes and expectations. A latent moderated structured approach revealed that students’ perceptions of math importance moderated the effects of Intervention-S. For students who rated math to be more important, their math self-efficacy became stronger after Intervention-S, which then related to higher math achievement. The findings highlight the need to involve parents and take children’s values into account for successful interventions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)