Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/196654 
Year of Publication: 
2019
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 12156
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
We study the correlation between parental gender attitudes and the performance in mathematics of girls using two different approaches and data. First, we identify families with a preference for boys by using fertility stopping rules in a population of households whose children attend public schools in Florida. Girls growing up in a boy-biased family score 3 percentage points lower on math tests when compared to girls raised in other families. Second, we find similar strong effects when we study the correlations between girls' performance in mathematics and maternal gender role attitudes, using evidence from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. We conclude that socialization at home can explain a non-trivial part of the observed gender disparities in mathematics performance and document that maternal gender attitudes correlate with those of their children, supporting the hypothesis that preferences transmitted through the family impact children behavior.
Subjects: 
gender Differences
cultural transmission
math performance
JEL: 
A13
I20
J16
Z1
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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