Trait beliefs that make women vulnerable to math disengagement

This study examined if women’s beliefs regarding the malleability of traits influences their tendency to disengage from the math domain following failure. As predicted, women who believed their math skills were fixed and unchangeable showed less math identification and less interest in math tasks than women who believed their math skills were malleable. These results suggest that women with fixed-trait beliefs are more likely to fall prey to the gender gap that exists in mathematics fields.