At present,the phenomenon of “strong female and weak male” is widespread in education,that is,the academic performance of female students is higher than that of male students.It remains to be investigated whether students endorsed subject gender stereotypes,such as “boys are better at math than girls” and “girls are better at language than boys”.Based on“STEreotypes,Motivation,and Outcomes developmental model”,subject gender stereotypes include not only gender-ability stereotypes but also gender-interest stereotypes.Therefore,the first study investigated the development characteristics of subject gender stereotypes among primary and middle school students.At the same time,the model points out that gender-interest stereotypes are better predictors of learning interests than gender-ability stereotypes.Study 2further explored the relationship between gender-interest stereotypes and students’ learning interests in different subjects and tested the internal mechanism of self-representation.A total of 670 primary and secondary school students were recruited to complete the gender-ability and gender-interest stereotypes questionnaires in mathematics and language subjects.In Study 2,947 primary and secondary school students were recruited to systematically explore the internal mechanism between gender-interest and ability stereotypes and learning interests.The research results were as follows:(1)Primary and middle school students endorsed language-ability stereotypes and language-interest stereotypes.Math-gender ability and interest stereotypes emerged in primary school and increase with the grade.(2)Subject gender stereotypes were related to subject learning interests.Gender-interest stereotypes was more predictive of learning interests than gender-ability stereotypes.Among them,math-interest stereotypes had a positive predictive effect on boys’ learning interests,while it had a negative predictive effect on girls’ math learning interests.Language-interest stereotypes negatively predicted boys’ learning interests.Language-ability stereotypes positively predicted the girls’ learning interests.Self-representation existed different internal mechanisms between subject gender stereotypes and learning interests.Among them,academic self-concept played a completely or partially mediating role between subject ability and interest stereotypes and subject learning interests,but it had no mediating role only in female students’ language subjects.Academic belonging played a completely or partially mediating role between subject ability and interest stereotypes and subject learning interests,but there was no mediating role between mathematical ability stereotypes and learning interests in boys and language-interest stereotypes and learning interests in girls.Domain identity plays a partial and complete mediating role between subject gender stereotypes and learning interests of male students but has no mediating role between subject gender stereotypes and learning interests of female students.The results revealed the internal mechanism between subject gender stereotypes and learning interest and verify the model.It also inspired educators to reduce subject gender stereotypes in the environment,and help students improve their learning interests by improving students’ academic sense of belonging,academic self-concept and domain identity. |