Do performance goals and fixed mindset explicate the relations between stereotype threat and achievement? Examining differences between racially marginalized and White students in STEM

Abstract

This study examined whether performance goal orientations and mindset beliefs explicate the negative relation of ethnic stereotype threat with achievement and whether these processes vary depending on students' membership in a historically minoritized group. Multigroup analyses of undergraduate chemistry students (N = 1376) indicated that perceived ethnic stereotype threat was associated with lower achievement regardless of whether students were from underrepresented minority groups (URM). For URM students, compared to White students, ethnic stereotype threat more strongly predicted performance-avoidance goals. Further, fixed mindset beliefs moderated the relation of ethnic stereotype threat with performance goals for White students only. The relations of stereotype threat with performance goals were stronger for White students with a greater fixed mindset. Findings imply that while ethnic stereotype threat has the potential to detrimentally impact both URM and White students, motivational beliefs may exert somewhat distinct influences within each group, shaping the outcomes of stereotype threat.

Educational relevance

In our society, there are pervasive stereotypes about who can achieve success in competitive fields. Science learning contexts are no exception. In these contexts, and particularly among racially-marginalized students, anxieties about performing poorly and confirming stereotypes are prevalent, resulting in lower achievement for this student group (i.e., stereotype threat). In this study, we examined the consequences of ethnic stereotype threat for racially-marginalized and White students separately. Results revealed that ethnic stereotype threat led to lower science grades for both racially-marginalized and White students. For racially-marginalized students, ethnic stereotype threat also steered them toward goals focused less on growth and learning and more on avoiding looking incompetent to others (i.e., performance-avoidance goals). Further, for White students, a stronger belief that intelligence is fixed and cannot be improved (i.e., fixed mindset belief) exacerbated the negative effects of stereotype threat on their goal orientations, leading them to prioritize appearing intelligent and avoiding seeming incompetent to others. This research highlights the impact of ethnic stereotype threat on marginalized and non-marginalized students' motivational beliefs and achievement.