Growth mindset interacts with gender for health major choice — men's chances decline 3.9 percentage points per unit increase — but no gender difference appears in how ability beliefs influence PEMC major choice¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 2 studies · 2 associational r2 · q3
Currency · newest study 2017 · checked against its sources 2026-10-18 (automated, 2 of 2 entries) · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q3 i? One significant interaction emerged, between gender and growth mindset in choice of health majors: men's chances of majoring in health fields decline by 3.9 percentage points for every one-unit increase in growth mindset, while growth mindset has no significant effect on women's health major chances. → Perez-Felkner L 2017 q3 i? No evidence was found that boys and girls differ in how any mathematics ability belief measure influences choice of PEMC major; 12th grade perceived ability under challenge and gender each remained significant predictors of PEMC majoring even in the weaker interaction model (pmale < 0.000, pmath12 < 0.009). → Perez-Felkner L 2017 (2)

Evidence¶

Perez-Felkner L 2017¶

Perez-Felkner L, Nix S and Thomas K (2017) Gendered Pathways: How Mathematics Ability Beliefs Shape Secondary and Postsecondary Course and Degree Field Choices. Front. Psychol. 8:386. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00386

q3 · i? · associational · r2

Interaction terms in the full multinomial models assessed gender differences in how ability beliefs influence major selection. The article notes growth mindset is based on a single item, so a one-unit increase aligns with students' response categories.

"While growth mindset does not have a significant effect on women’s chances of majoring in health fields, men’s chances of majoring in health fields decline by 3. 9% points for every one-unit increase in growth mindset"

Perez-Felkner L 2017 (2)¶

Perez-Felkner L, Nix S and Thomas K (2017) Gendered Pathways: How Mathematics Ability Beliefs Shape Secondary and Postsecondary Course and Degree Field Choices. Front. Psychol. 8:386. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00386

q3 · i? · associational · r2

The same interaction-effects models tested gender moderation for PEMC major choice and found none, though the main effects of 12th grade perceived ability under challenge and gender remained significant in this otherwise weaker model.

"We do not however find evidence indicating boys and girls differ in how any of our mathematics ability belief measures (growth mindset and perceived ability under challenge in 10th and 12th grades) influence choice of PEMC major."

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

• Gender — moderator: an instructional effect differs by group
• Mindset — moderator: an instructional effect differs with it
• Motivation — predictor: learners who differ on it differ in outcomes

Related Claims¶

• Boys rate their mathematics ability under challenge significantly higher than girls at every level of observed mathematics ability, including the highest (p < 0.001) — related
• Men have a 3.60 times higher risk than women of majoring in PEMC sciences and a 0.74 times lower risk of majoring in health fields, with predicted PEMC probabilities of 14.9% for men versus 4.7% for women — related
• Girls' likelihood of majoring in PEMC is 3.1 times greater at the highest versus lowest value of 12th grade perceived mathematics ability under challenge (5.6% vs. 1.8%) — related
• ACE-outcome associations did not differ between girls and boys — reports the opposite