The Gender Gap in Possible Selves: Divergence of Academic Self-Views Among High School and University Students

Two studies were designed to investigate the current and possible academic self-views of university and high school students. In the first study, upper level university students were shown to diverge by gender in their current- and possible-self-views. Women reported more ability for and identification with the arts, communication, and social sciences; men reported more ability for and identification with mathematics, science, technology, and business. Gender differences were greater with respect to possible future selves than to current selves. The second study included lower and upper level university students as well as high school students. Again, a gender divergence appeared among the university students; however, it was not as marked among high school students. Analyses showed that both women and men differed significantly across educational levels in their self-ratings and that, within the masculine-stereotyped academic domains linked to powerful careers, university women endorsed fewer possibilities for themselves that high school women did. These findings suggest that, as they make the transition from high school to university, young women may be actively closing off possibilities for their futures.