Math achievement, stereotypes, and math self-concepts among elementary-school students in Singapore

Singaporean elementary-school students (N 1⁄4 299) completed Child Implicit Association Tests (Child IAT) as well as explicit measures of gender identity, mathegender stereotypes, and math self-concepts. Students also completed a standardized math achievement test. Three new findings emerged. First, implicit, but not explicit, math self-concepts (math 1⁄4 me) were positively related to math achievement on a standardized test. Second, as expected, stronger mathegender stereotypes (math 1⁄4 boys) significantly correlated with stronger math self-concepts for boys and weaker math self-concepts for girls, on both implicit and explicit measures. Third, implicit mathegender stereotypes were significantly related to math achievement. These findings show that non-academic factors such as implicit math self-concepts and stereotypes are linked to students' actual math achievement. The findings suggest that measuring individual differences in non-academic factors may be a useful tool for educators in assessing students'