Mothers' gender stereotypes and daughters' susceptibility to stereotype threat in math

Although it has been documented that parents' gender stereotypes affect their children’s performances in math (Aunola et al., 2003), no prior research has documented to date whether children's susceptibility to stereotype threat in math is related to their parents' endorsement of gender stereotypes. In the present study, we investigated the susceptibility to stereotype threat effect on math performances in a sample of Italian female pupils (n=154), ranging from kindergarten (K3, aged 5) to primary school (2nd grade, aged 7). Besides, we explored the relationship between mothers' and fathers' endorsement of math-related gender stereotypes, and their daughters' performances in math tests. Results confirmed that, when controlling for participant's prior achievement in math and for their stereotype awareness (as well as for the interactions between covariates and experimental manipulation), performances in math tests decreased when gender identity was made salient, compared to the control condition. Furthermore, mothers' endorsement of math-related gender stereotypes moderated their daughters' susceptibility to stereotype threat. In fact, performance of participants whose mothers endorsed a gender-stereotyped view of math decreased when their gender identity was made salient, compared to the control condition. Conversely, no detrimental effect due to gender identity activation was observed for participants whose mothers did not endorse such a gender-stereotyped view. Even though mothers' and fathers' endorsement of math-related gender stereotypes were correlated with each other, the latter did not yield significant effects on daughters' performances.