Although boys and girls start out performing similarly on STEM-related school subjects, the gap between them widens as they mature, leading to the underrepresentation of women in STEM fields at the college level and in the workforce. The current study examines the development of children’s beliefs about men’s and women’s competence and other boys’ and girls’ learning ability for STEM and non-STEM topics. Children ages 5 through 9 (N = 134) judged adults to be less competent at professions they perceived as more difficult. Boys gave higher competence ratings to men than women in STEM and non-STEM fields, but girls only gave higher ratings to women than men in non-STEM fields. Children also viewed girls as less capable of learning about STEM subjects compared to non-STEM subjects, but they perceived boys as similarly capable of learning both STEM and non-STEM subjects. However, children’s own school subject preferences and career aspirations (STEM or non-STEM) were not related to their judgments of adults or other children. The results point to the detrimental effects of gender stereotypes on children’s beliefs about women’s and girls’ abilities in STEM. Practice implications for caregivers and educators to close the gender gap in STEM are discussed.

尽管男孩和女孩一开始在 STEM 相关学校科目上的表现相似，但随着年龄的增长，他们之间的差距会扩大，导致大学和劳动力市场中女性在 STEM 领域的代表性不足。当前的研究调查了儿童对男性和女性能力以及其他男孩和女孩对 STEM 和非 STEM 主题的学习能力的信念的发展。 5 至 9 岁的儿童 (N = 134) 认为成年人在他们认为更困难的职业上能力较差。在 STEM 和非 STEM 领域，男孩对男性的能力评分高于女性，但女孩仅在非 STEM 领域对女性的评分高于男性。与非 STEM 科目相比，孩子们还认为女孩学习 STEM 科目的能力较差，但他们认为男孩学习 STEM 和非 STEM 科目的能力相似。然而，孩子们自己的学校科目偏好和职业抱负（STEM 或非 STEM）与他们对成人或其他孩子的判断无关。结果表明，性别刻板印象对儿童对妇女和女孩在 STEM 能力的信念产生了不利影响。讨论了对护理人员和教育工作者缩小 STEM 性别差距的实践影响。