Gender Differences in the Effects of Relevant and Irrelevant Task Failure on Mathematics Self-Efficacy Expectations [microform] / Gail Hackett and Nancy E. Betz

This investigation, part of an on-going research program examining social learning theory applications to career development, tested several hypotheses derived from A. Bandura's self-efficacy theory in the career-related domain of mathematics. Specifically, the effects of failure on a mathematics task and on a task irrelevant to mathematics were explored. Findings indicate that, congruent with theoretical expectations, measures of mathematics self-efficacy (MSE) expectations of females were not influenced by verbal-task failure; however, contrary to predictions, MSE expectations of males rose significantly higher as a result of verbal-task failure. For the mathematics-task failure condition, again counter to expectations, females' MSE rose while males' MSE was not significantly affected. No task-failure effect was found on a global rating of subjects' mathematics ability. Findings for a global verbal ability rating were partly consistent with predictions; all subjects responded to verbal-task failure with a decrease in verbal ability ratings. Unexpectedly, subjects in the mathematics-failure condition significantly increased their ratings of their verbal ability on posttest, indicating that the effects of failure had a facilitating, rather than a debilitating influence on self-efficacy with respect to a task irrelevant domain. Implications of these results for future career-related self-efficacy research are discussed. (Author/JN)