Parents' math–gender stereotypes, children's self-perception of ability, and children's appraisal of parents' evaluations in 6-year-olds

•We study parents' gender stereotypes and children's self-perception of math ability.•Mothers' math–gender stereotypes are related to girls' self-perception in 1st Grade.•Children project their own self-perception of ability onto parents.•Mothers' stereotypes are indirectly related to girls' appraisal of parents' evaluation.

This study investigated for the first time the relations between parents' math–gender stereotypes, parents' evaluations of children's math ability, children's math ability self-perception, and children's appraisal of parents' evaluations, addressing 253 Italian children as young as 6 years of age, their mothers, fathers, and teachers. Novel results revealed the specific role of mothers' math–gender stereotypes in relation to daughters, but not sons: Mothers' math–gender stereotypes predicted girls' math self-perception which, in turn, predicted girls' appraisal of both mothers' and fathers' evaluations of their ability. Importantly, children's appraisal of parents' evaluations was related more strongly with their own self-perception of ability than to parents' actual evaluations, thus supporting the projected appraisal versus the reflected appraisal model of the development of self-perception.