Restricted accessResearch articleFirst published online 2022-05
High school students’ sexist beliefs about academic abilities and women’s roles: the influence of school specialization ( Creencias sexistas de los estudiantes de enseñanza secundaria sobre las aptitudes académicas y el rol de las mujeres: la influencia de la especialización escolar )
The present study analyses the influence of gender and type of baccalaureate pathway on students’ beliefs about the respective abilities of girls and boys in gender-congruent subjects, controlling for ambivalent sexism. Eight hundred and sixty-six students (M = 17.5, SD = 0.83) enrolled in the second course of high school participated. Students on the science pathway were more likely to believe that boys perform better in maths, physical science and technology, and that girls perform better in literature, biology and languages. Boys and girls in gender-congruent pathways were more likely to consider boys to have greater abilities in maths, physical science and technology, whereas girls in languages, biology and literature. Moreover, students’ attitudes towards boys’ ability to perform better in maths, physical science and technology depended to a great extent on ambivalent sexist attitudes, whereas students’ sexist attitudes regarding girls’ greater abilities in literature, biology and languages depended on benevolent sexist attitudes alone.
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