Race differences in Black and white adolescents' academic gender stereotypes across middle and late adolescence.

Objectives: We examined race differences in adolescents' beliefs about boys' and girls' English, math, and science abilities, testing the hypothesis that Black adolescents would rate girls' abilities more favorably than boys' across all domains. In contrast, we expected that White adolescents would report traditional stereotypes favoring boys in math and science and favoring girls in English, and that developmental change would reflect increasing endorsement of traditional stereotypes for both Black and White adolescents. Methods: 654 Black and White adolescents (Mage = 16.3; SD = 0.67) completed surveys rating girls' and boys' competence in each academic domain in Grade 10 and in Grade 12. Results: Across Grade 10 and Grade 12, Black and White adolescents of both genders showed strong endorsement of stereotypes favoring girls in verbal domains. Traditional stereotypes favoring boys in math were endorsed by White adolescents but not Black adolescents and increased across time. Black youth (with scores averaged across grades) and 10th graders (with scores averaged across race) reported that girls were more competent than boys in science. In contrast, girls and boys were viewed as equally competent in science by White adolescents (with scores averaged across time) and by 12th graders (with scores averaged across race). Conclusions: These findings show that Black and White youth differ in their endorsement of stereotypes about gender differences in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) abilities. The results extend prior research with children and early adolescents showing that traditional STEM gender stereotypes become more pronounced in later adolescence and that verbal gender stereotypes are robust. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Age and Race Differences in Racial Stereotype Awareness and Endorsement.

Age and race differences in race stereotype awareness and endorsement were examined in 382 Black and White fourth, sixth, and eighth graders. Youth reported their own beliefs and their perceptions of adults' beliefs about racial differences in ability in two domains: academics and sports. Children's own endorsement of race stereotypes was highly correlated with their perceptions of adults' race stereotypes. Blacks reported stronger traditional sports stereotypes than Whites, and fourth- and sixth-grade Blacks reported roughly egalitarian academic stereotypes. At every grade level, Whites reported academic stereotypes that favored Whites, and sixth and eighth grade Whites reported sports stereotypes that favored Blacks. Results support the tenets of status theory and have implications for identity development and achievement motivation in adolescents.

Gender differences in motivational pathways to college for middle class African American youths.

Using a sample of predominantly middle-class African American adolescents and parents (N = 424), the authors tested a path model linking parental expectations for children's future educational attainment, youths' motivation during Grade 11, and youths' subsequent on-time postsecondary educational progress. Parents' expectations were positively related to adolescents' educational attainment aspirations, attainment expectations, utility values (i.e., beliefs about the usefulness of education), and perceptions of racial barriers to upward mobility. Relationships between parents' expectations and youths' aspirations and expectations were mediated by youths' perceptions of parents' expectations. For boys, but not girls, Grade 11 educational expectations and utility values each uniquely predicted college attendance 1 year after high school graduation. In addition, boys' perceptions of racial barriers were negatively related to subsequent postsecondary progress through their influence on values. Findings underscore the importance of academic achievement motivation as a developmental resource for African American boys and suggest that boys are especially likely to benefit from interventions promoting positive motivational beliefs.