Young children expect and approve of teachers’ gender stereotypes about academic interest
Marianna Y Zhang, Mika Asaba, Julia A Leonard · 2026
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Description
Zhang, Asaba, and Leonard (2026) asked whether young children already expect teachers to hold gender stereotypes about school subjects, and whether children think acting on them is acceptable. In their first studies, 5- to 7-year-old children in the United States predicted that teachers meeting new students would give engineering activities to boys and reading activities to girls. Children expected this even when they knew the students liked both activities equally.
In the second set of studies, children approved of teachers making those stereotype-matching assignments, and rated them more favorably than assignments that went against the pattern. The results suggest that children arrive at school already expecting teachers to sort activities by gender, and that they see it as fine for teachers to act on such beliefs. The authors flag this as an early obstacle to equal chances in education.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Marianna Y Zhang, Mika Asaba, Julia A Leonard |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 58 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |