Research suggests girls’ confidence declines by age six

A collaborative research study from Princeton University, New York University and the University of Illinois has presented findings which suggest that girls begin to lose confidence in their own abilities by the time they reach six years of age. The study which included 400 children found that as gender differences develop, confidence and faith in one’s own gender also diminishes. The study included an experiment whereby children were read a story about a very intelligent protagonist, they then had to choose from images of two men and two women, to identify who they thought the protagonist was. At the age of five, children were more inclined to pick their own gender but by the age of six, girls were more likely to pick the opposite sex, while boys continued to pick the male images at least 75% of the time. One of the researchers, Professor Cimpian, states that society’s stereotypes manifest themselves quite early in children’s lives and this can have an impact on life choices and trajectories.