High school students’ sexist beliefs about academic abilities and women’s roles: the influence of school specialization

The present study analyses the influence of gender and type of baccalaureate pathway on students’ beliefs about the respective abilities of girls and boys in gender-congruent subjects, controlling for ambivalent sexism. Eight hundred and sixty-six students (M = 17.5, SD = 0.83) enrolled in the secon...

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Detalhes bibliográficos
Autores: Sainz, Milagros, Gallego Arias, Maria del Carmen
Formato: artículo
Estado:Versión aceptada para publicación
Fecha de publicación:2022
País:España
Recursos:Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC)
Repositorio:O2, repositorio institucional de la UOC
OAI Identifier:oai:openaccess.uoc.edu:10609/146998
Acesso em linha:https://hdl.handle.net/10609/146998
http://doi.org/10.1080/02134748.2022.2040865
Access Level:acceso embargado
Palavra-chave:ambivalent sexism
gender roles
sexist beliefs
study choices
STEM
sexismo ambivalente
roles de género
creencias sexistas
elección de estudios
sexisme ambivalent
rols de gènere
creences sexistes
elecció d'estudis
education, Secondary
gender identity in education
ensenyament secundari
identitat de gènere en l'educació
enseñanza secundaria
Descrição
Resumo:The present study analyses the influence of gender and type of baccalaureate pathway on students’ beliefs about the respective abilities of girls and boys in gender-congruent subjects, controlling for ambivalent sexism. Eight hundred and sixty-six students (M = 17.5, SD = 0.83) enrolled in the second course of high school participated. Students on the science pathway were more likely to believe that boys perform better in maths, physical science and technology, and that girls perform better in literature, biology and languages. Boys and girls in gender-congruent pathways were more likely to consider boys to have greater abilities in maths, physical science and technology, whereas girls in languages, biology and literature. Moreover, students’ attitudes towards boys’ ability to perform better in maths, physical science and technology depended to a great extent on ambivalent sexist attitudes, whereas students’ sexist attitudes regarding girls’ greater abilities in literature, biology and languages depended on benevolent sexist attitudes alone.