Journal article

Publication year: 2003

Pages: 182-190

Journal: Psychologie in Erziehung und Unterricht

Volume number: 50

Issue number: 2

ISSN: 0342-183X

Publisher: Reinhardt

Abstract: 
At the end of elementary school, girls show a lower self-concept of their mathematical ability than boys. Recent explanations of this gender difference have focused on the role that evaluation of students' ability by significant others has. Meyer (1992) and Wigfield and Eccles (2000) emphasized students' perception of how other persons evaluate their ability as a mediatonal variable. To test the mediation hypothesis 327 third and fourth graders were asked to rate their self-concepts of mathematical ability and to report how they perceived teachers' evaluations of their abilities. The teachers also rated their students' abilities and achievements. Structural equation modelling was used to test the mediation hypothesis. The relationships between the variables were independent of student gender. Confirming the gender hypothesis girls showed a lower self-concept of their mathematical ability than boys of equal mathematical achievement and perceived their teachers as having a lower opinion of their (the girls') mathematical abilities. This study did not find gender differences in the ability evaluations by teachers.

Harvard Citation style: Dickhäuser, O. and Stiensmeier-Pelster, J. (2003) Perceived teachers' ability evaluations and boys' and girls' concepts of their mathematical ability in elementary school, PSYCHOLOGIE IN ERZIEHUNG UND UNTERRICHT, 50(2), pp. 182-190

APA Citation style: Dickhäuser, O., & Stiensmeier-Pelster, J. (2003). Perceived teachers' ability evaluations and boys' and girls' concepts of their mathematical ability in elementary school. PSYCHOLOGIE IN ERZIEHUNG UND UNTERRICHT. 50(2), 182-190.