Effect of ethnic stereotype threat on academic performance: Experimental evidence from rural China

Abstract

Ethnic stereotype threat is a feeling of being at risk of perceiving a negative stereotype about one's ethnicity. Conducting a lab-in-the-field experiment at 126 rural primary schools in northwest China with a sample of 10,431 students from grade 4 and grade 5, this paper examines the effects of ethnic stereotype threat on students' academic performance. We find that stereotype threat improved minority students' English test scores and had no effect on Han students. Investigations for underlying mechanisms show that stereotype threat improves the ethnic pride of minority students, further improving their English test scores. Heterogeneous analysis shows that the positive effects of stereotype threat on English performance are more evident for minority students whose English teachers are from Han, and also more evident for minority students whose best friends of different ethnicities have higher grades than them. This study provides evidence to support the benefits of inter-ethnic communication and integration among multi-ethnic settings at school.