Parental Gender Stereotypes and Student Wellbeing in China

Abstract

A prominent gender stereotype claims that "boys are better at learning mathematics than girls". Confronted with such a parental attitude, how does this affect the wellbeing of 11 - 18 years old students in Chinese middle schools? While wellbeing has been often shown to be not much gender diverse, the intergenerational consequences of such stereotypes are not well studied. Expecting too much from boys and too little from girls might damage self-esteem among school kids. Using large survey data covering districts all over China reveals that one quarter of parents agree with the math stereotype. It is shown that this has strong detrimental consequences for offspring wellbeing. Students are strongly more depressed, feeling blue, unhappy, not enjoying life and sad with no male-female differences while parental education does not matter for this transfer. Moderating such effects which is in line with societal objectives in many countries does not only support gender equality but also strengthen mental health of children.

Keywords: Gender identity, gender stereotypes, student wellbeing, mental health, subjective wellbeing