February 3, 2003

Parents may inhibit girls' interest and performance in science, study says

By Jennifer McNulty

Parents are more likely to believe that science is less interesting and more difficult for their daughters than sons, and their beliefs appear to affect children's interest and performance in science, according to research published in the January issue of Developmental Psychology

The study, "Parent-Child Conversations About Science: The Socialization of Gender Inequities?" may help explain why women remain underrepresented in the science and engineering labor force, according to authors Harriet Tenenbaum, a graduate of the UCSC doctoral program in psychology and a postdoctoral researcher at Harvard University, and Campbell Leaper, a professor of psychology at UCSC. The article presents the findings of Tenenbaum's dissertation research; Leaper was her adviser.

Tenenbaum and Leaper found that parents also appear to use different language when discussing science and interpersonal relationships with their sons and daughters. Fathers who were observed engaging in scientific activities with their children were more likely to use challenging or scientific language with their sons than with their daughters, while they were more likely to ask daughters challenging questions about interpersonal dilemmas.

Tenenbaum and Leaper speculate that the differences contribute to the gender gap in scientific and interpersonal interest and skills. Only 23 percent of people employed in the sciences are women, according to the National Science Foundation.

In their study, Tenenbaum and Leaper asked 52 boys and girls around 11 and 13 years old to indicate how much they enjoyed science and how good they were at science. They asked the children's parents to answer the same questions about their sons and daughters. There was no gender difference in children's grades or interest in science or math.

They also observed parents interacting with their children during a variety of scientific and nonscientific activities, including an experiment in which parents dropped seltzer tablets and raisins into a glass of water. Observing the experiment, fathers were more likely to use language such as "carbon dioxide" and "surface tension" with their sons than their daughters.

During another exchange in which parents and children discussed interpersonal dilemmas, such as when a teacher asks two students who don't get along to work together, fathers were more likely to ask daughters challenging questions, such as "why?"

Although mothers and fathers in Tenenbaum's study shared the belief that science is of less interest to girls, mothers did not behave differently with their sons and daughters, according to Tenenbaum, who said that finding is in line with previous research.

"Fathers are much more likely to uphold rigid, traditional gender roles than are mothers," said Tenenbaum, who earned her doctorate in 2000 and will join the faculty of Brooklyn College and the City University of New York Graduate Center in the fall.

Tenenbaum designed the study to observe parental behavior in varied scientific contexts and across a range of tasks. "I was really trying to look at gender bias across all types of science and all different tasks," she said. The gender gap in employment, she said, is specific to the type of science. "Biology is relatively gender neutral now, with women making up 36 percent of those employed, according to the NSF," said Tenenbaum.

UCSC psychology professor Maureen Callanan, chair of the Psychology Department, investigates the acquisition by children of scientific knowledge and has explored gender differences in science learning at the San Jose Children's Discovery Museum. In one study, her research team found that parents were four to five times more likely to explain the museum's exhibits to boys than girls, regardless of the age of the child.

Tenenbaum is hopeful that once parents become aware of the different ways they treat their sons and daughters, they will change their behavior.

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