Though adults tend to endorse the stereotype that boys are better than girls in math, children tend to favor their own gender or be gender egalitarian. When do individuals start endorsing the traditional stereotype that boys are better? Using two longitudinal U.S. datasets that span 1993 to 2011, we examined three questions: (1) What are the developmental changes in adolescents’ gender stereotypes about math abilities from early to late adolescence? (2) Do the developmental changes vary based on gender and race/ethnicity? (3) Are adolescents’ stereotypes related to their math motivational beliefs? Finally, (4) do these patterns replicate across two datasets that vary in historical time? Adolescents in grades 8/9 and 11 were asked whether girls or boys are better at math (n’s = 1186 and 23,340, 49–53% girls, 30–54% White, 13–60% Black, 1–22% Latinx, and 2% to 4% Asian). Early adolescents were more likely to be gender egalitarian or favor their own gender. By late adolescence, adolescents’ stereotypes typically shifted towards the traditional stereotype that boys are better. In terms of race/ethnicity, White and Asian adolescents significantly favored boys, whereas Black and Latinx adolescents were more likely to endorse gender egalitarian beliefs. Adolescents’ stereotypes were significantly related to their expectancy beliefs, negatively for girls and positively for boys.

Though one might imagine that traditional gender stereotypes about math have lessened over the years, this assumption remains to be tested. We know little about the extent to which parents’ gender stereotypes about math abilities and their correlates have changed over time or the extent to which they replicate across research methods and racial/ethnic groups. To address these issues, we used four longitudinal U.S. datasets collected from 1984 to 2009 (n’s = 537–14,470, 49–53

Having college-associated career aspirations has long-term implications for adolescents' education and career attainment. However, important precursors of adolescents' career aspirations, such as academic motivation and performance, decline during middle school and high school, leaving college-associated career aspirations at risk. In our study, we investigated the changes in adolescents' college-related career aspirations from 7th to 11th grade and examined protective factors for negative development. Using longitudinal data (N = 706, 54% girls; 60% African American, 29% European American, 11% other ethnic groups or multiracial/multiethnic), we found four distinct patterns: stable high (N = 398), decrease (N = 136), increase (N = 102) and stable low (N = 70). Higher academic subjective task values and parent education level predict less probability of lowering one's aspirations, whereas no variable was found to uniquely predict the probability of increasing one's aspirations. Findings suggest that the development of career aspirations exhibits significant heterogeneity in adolescence. Future studies should investigate the association between the patterns of career aspiration and long-term career outcomes.