How early do field-related stereotypes start? Understanding children’s gender beliefs in STEM and verbal abilities

By Carmen Pannone, University of Cagliari

In a recent meta-analysis on children’s gender stereotypes about STEM and verbal abilities, data from 98 studies across 33 nations involving more than 145,000 children were integrated. The findings reveal that verbal stereotypes favoring girls’ abilities (b = 0.19) were actually stronger than aggregated STEM stereotypes (b = 0.09). A closer look showed that at age 6, stereotypes reflected in-group bias—boys favoring boys, and girls favoring girls. These gender differences declined with age, and by age 16, the stereotypes tended to align with traditional gender roles: boys were favored in STEM ability, and girls in verbal ability.

Girls showed stronger pro-female verbal stereotypes than boys, and while verbal stereotypes increasingly favored girls with age, STEM stereotypes remained more stable. Girls’ STEM beliefs shifted from pro-female to pro-male around ages 10–12, while boys’ verbal beliefs flipped to pro-female around ages 8–10. By age 8, verbal stereotypes already significantly favored girls. STEM stereotypes varied by domain, with stronger male-favoring beliefs in computer science, engineering, and physics (b = 0.25), and weaker or negligible biases in general math (b = 0.06) and science (b = 0.09). Background also mattered: children identified as Black held less STEM stereotypes than those identified as White, especially among girls. Black children’s views were largely gender-neutral, while White children slightly favored boys.

These results suggest that stereotypes emerge early, and may shape children's interests and academic choices. Addressing these beliefs calls for cross-disciplinary collaboration and greater research focus on understudied areas like computing, engineering, and verbal ability development. Interventions could aim to challenge or broaden stereotypes and mitigate their impact, guided by a clear understanding of when such beliefs typically take root.